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1 


i 


THE   BOOK  OF  WITCHES 


THE 


BOOK  OF  WITCHES 


BY 

OLIVER    MADOX    HUEFFER 

Author  of  ^^In  Arcady  and  Out,''^  &c. 

With  Frontispiece  in  Colours  by  W.  Heath  Robinson 


^ 


THE  JOHN  McBRIDE  CO 

New  York 

1909 


F 
^7^ 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

ON    A    POSSIBLE   REVIVAL  -OF    WITCHCRAFT  ...  I 


CHAPTER  II. 

A    SABBATH-GENERAL I9 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    ORIGINS    OF  THE   WITCH 45 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    HALF-WAY   WORLDS 6 1 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   WITCH'S   ATTRIBUTES 88 

V 


Contents 


PAGE 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SOME   REPRESENTATIVE   ENGLISH    WITCHES      .     .      II4 

CHAPTER  VH.    -^ 

THE  WITCH   OF  ANTIQUITY 12/ 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

THE   WITCH   IN   GREECE  AND   ROME    .     .     .     .     .     .      I4I 

CHAPTER  IX. 

FROM   PAGANISM   TO  CHRISTIANITY     ......      163 

CHAPTER  X. 

THE  WITCH-BULL  AND  ITS  EFFECTS 1 88 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE  LATER  PERSECUTIONS   IN    ENGLAND    .  .     .   ;.     206 

CHAPTER  XH. 

PERSECUTIONS  IN   SCOTLAND 232 

CHAPTER  XHI. 

OTHER   PERSECUTIONS ,.     .     253 

vi 


Contents 


PAGE 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

PHILTRES,  CHARMS  AND    POTIONS 278 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  WITCH   IN   FICTION 298 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

SOME  WITCHES  OF    TO-DAY 315 


Vll 


FOREWORD 

Lest  any  reader  should  open  this  volume 
expecting  to  read  an  exhaustive  treatise  on 
witches  and  witchcraft,  treated  scientifically,  his- 
torically, and  so  forth,  let  me  disarm  him  before- 
hand by  telling  him  that  he  will  be  disappointed. 
The  witch  occupies  so  large  a  place  in  the  story 
of  mankind  that  to  include  all  the  detail  of  her 
natural  history  within  the  limits  of  one  volume 
would  need  the  powers  of  a  magician  no  less 
potent  than  was  he  who  confined  the  Eastern 
Djinn  in  a  bottle.  I  have  attempted  nothing  so 
ambitious  as  a  large-scale  Ordnance  Map  of 
Witchland;  rather  I  have  endeavoured  to  pro- 
duce a  picture  from  which  a  general  impression 

ix 


Foreword 

may  be  gained.       I  have  chosen,  that  is  to  say, 
from  the  enormous  mass  of  material  only  so  much 
as  seemed  necessary  for  my  immediate  purpose, 
and  on  my  lack  of  judgment  be  the  blame  for 
any  undesirable  hiatus.     I  have  sought,  again,  to 
show  whence  the  witch  came  and  why,  as  well  as 
what  she  was  and  is;  to  point  out,  further,  how 
necessary  she  is  and  must  be  to  the  happiness 
of  mankind,  and  how  great  the  responsibility  of 
those  who,  disbelieving  in  her  themselves,  seek 
to  infect  others  with  their  scepticism.     We  have 
few  picturesque  excrescences  left  upon  this  age 
of    smoothly-running    machine-wheels,    certainly 
we  cannot  spare  one  of  the  most  time-honoured 
and  romantic  of  any.       And  if  anything  I  have 
written  about  her  seem  incompatible  with  sense 
or  fact,  I  would  plead  in  extenuation  that  neither 
is  essential  to  the  firm  believer  in  witchcraft,  and 
that  to  be  able  to  enter  thoroughly  into  the  sub- 
ject it  is  above  all  things  necessary  to  cast  aside 
such  nineteenth-century  shibboleths. 


Foreword 

I  would  here  express  my  gratitude  to  the  many- 
friends  who  have  assisted  me  with  material,  and 
especially  to  Miss  Muriel  Harris,  whose  valuable 
help  has  done  much  to  lighten  my  task. 

London,  September,  1908. 


XI 


THE  BOOK  OF  WITCHES 

CHAPTER  I 

ON  A  POSSIBLE  REVIVAL  OF  WITCHCRAFT 

To  the  superficial  glance  it  might  seem  that  he 
who  would  urge  a  revival  of  witchcraft  is  con- 
fronted by  a  task  more  Herculean  than  that  of 
making  dry  bones  live — in  that  the  bones  he  seeks 
to  revivify  have  never  existed.  The  educated 
class — which,  be  it  remembered,  includes  those 
who  have  studied  in  the  elementary  schools  of 
whatever  nation — is  united  in  declaring  that 
such  a  person  as  a  witch  never  did,  never  could, 
and  never  will  exist.  It  is  true  that  there  are  still 
those — a  waning  band — who,  preserving  implicit 
faith  in  the  literal  exactitude  of  revealed  religion, 
maintain  that  witchcraft — along  with  Gardens  of 
Eden,  giants,  and  Jewish  leaders  capable  of  in- 
fluencing the  movements  of  sun  and  moon — 
flourished  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  even 
though  it  has  become  incredible  under  the 
New.      Yet,  speaking  generally,  the  witch  is  as 

I  B 


The  Book  of  Witches 

extinct  in  civilised  men's  minds  as  is  the  dodo ;  so 
that  they  who  accept  as  gospel  the  vaticinations 
of  racecourse  tipsters  or  swallow  patent  medi- 
cines with  implicit  faith,  yet  moralise  upon  the 
illimitability  of  human  superstition  when  they 
read  that  witch-doctors  still  command  a  follow- 
ing in  West  Africa,  or  that  Sicilian  peasants  are 
not  yet  tired  of  opening  their  purses  to  sham 
sorcerers. 

Were  the  reality  of  sorcery  dependent  upon  a 
referendum  of  our  universities — or,  for  that  matter, 
of  our  elementary  school  mistresses — it  were 
at  once  proclaimed  a  clamant  imposture.  For- 
tunately for  the  witch,  and  incidentally  for  a  pic- 
turesque aspect  of  the  human  intellect,  the  En- 
lightened, even  if  we  include  among  them  those 
who  accept  their  dogma  as  the  New  Gospel,  are 
but  a  small — a  ridiculously  small — item  of  the 
human  race.  Compared  with  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  world,  their  numbers  are  so  insigni- 
ficant as  to  be  for  all  practical  purposes  non- 
existent. There  are  villages  but  a  few  miles 
beyond  the  boundary  of  the  Metropolitan 
Police  District,  where  the  witch  is  as  firmly 
enthroned  in  the  imaginations  of  the  mobility 
as  in  those  of  their  ancestors  three  cen- 
turies ago.  There  are  many  British  legislators 
who  would  refuse  to  start  an  electioneering  cam- 
paign upon  a  Friday.  I  myself  have  known  a 
man — and   know   him    still — a   Romney    Marsh- 

2 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

lander,  who,  within  the  last  decade,  has  suffered 
grievously — himself  and  through  his  children — 
at  the  hands  of  witches  whose  names  and  where- 
about he  can  detail.  And  I  have  known  a 
woman — she  kept  a  lodging-house  in  the  Ken- 
nington  Road — who,  if  not  herself  a  witch,  was 
yet  the  daughter  of  one,  and  of  acknowledged 
power.  It  is  true  that,  if  the  daughter's  tale — 
told  to  me  in  the  small  front  parlour  in  intervals 
between  the  crashing  passage  of  electric  trams 
and  motor-lorries — may  be  accepted,  her  mother's 
gifts  were  put  to  no  worse  use  than  the  curing  of 
her  Devonshire  neighbours'  minor  ailments. 

There  is  no  need  to  go  fifty,  nor  five,  miles 
from  London  to  find  material  for  a  revival  in 
Black  Magic.  Scarcely  a  week  passes  but  some 
old  crone  is  charged  before  a  Metropolitan  police 
magistrate  with  having  defrauded  silly  servant- 
girls  on  the  pretence  of  telling  them  their  futures. 
You  cannot  pass  down  Bond  Street  during  the 
season  without  encountering  a  row  of  sandwich- 
men — themselves  preserving  very  few  illusions — 
earning  a  meagre  wage  in  the  service  of  this,  that, 
or  the  other  Society  crystal-gazer,  palmist,  or 
clairvoyant.  Who  has  not  seen  some  such  adver- 
tisement as  the  following — quoted  from  a  current 
journal — proffering  information  about  the  future, 
"  calculated  from  astrological  horoscopes,"  at  the 
very  moderate  charge  of  half-a-crown.  ,The 
advertiser — in  deference  to  modern  convention  he 

^  B    2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

is  described  as  a  "  Professor  "  rather  than  a 
sorcerer — further  protests  his  mastery  of  Phreno- 
logy, Graphology,  Clairvoyance,  and  Psycho- 
metry.  And  this  advertiser  is  but  one  of  many, 
all  seeking  to  gain  some  humble  profit  by  follow- 
ing in  the  footsteps  of  Diana  and  Mother 
Demdyke  of  Pendle  Forest. 

Are  there  not  a  hundred  and  one  select 
Societies,  each  with  its  band  of  earnest 
adherents — many  with  official  organs,  published 
at  more  or  less  regular  intervals  and  com- 
manding circulations  of  a  sort — openly  fur- 
thering "  arts  "  such  as  would,  two  centuries 
ago,  have  entailed  upon  their  members  the  charge 
of  Witchcraft?  Is  not  spiritualism  exalted  into 
an  international  cult?  The  very  existence  of 
such  a  coterie  as  the  "  Thirteen  Club,"  with  a 
membership  sworn  to  exhibit,  hie  et  ubique,  their 
contempt  of  degrading  superstitions,  is  the 
strongest  testimony  to  their  ubiquitous  regard. 
Most  curious  fact  of  all,  it  is  in  America,  the 
New  World,  home  of  all  that  is  most  modern  and 
enlightened,  that  we  find  superstitions  command- 
ing most  implicit  faith.  It  is  only  necessary  to 
glance  through  the  advertisement  pages  of  an 
American  popular  magazine  to  realise  how  far 
the  New  World  has  outstripped  the  Old  in  its 
blind  adherence  to  this  form  of  faith.  Nowhere 
has  the  Hypnotic,  the  Mesmeric,  the  Psychic 
Quack  such  unchallenged  empire. 

4 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

In  Lady  Charlotte  Bury's  "  Memoirs  of  a 
Lady  in  Waiting/'  we  find  an  example  of  the 
belief  in  Witchcraft  cherished  in  the  most 
exalted  circle  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Writ- 
ing of  the  unhappy  Princess — later  Queen — 
Caroline,  wife  of  George  IV.,  she  says  as 
follows  : — "  After  dinner  her  Royal  Highness 
made  a  wax  figure  as  usual,  and  gave  it  an 
amiable  addition  of  large  horns;  then  took  three 
pins  out  of  her  garment  and  stuck  them  through 
and  through,  and  put  the  figure  to  roast  and  melt 

at  the  fire.  .   .   .   Lady  says   the    Princess 

indulges  in  this  amusement  whenever  there  are 
no  strangers  at  table,  and  she  thinks  her  Royal 
Highness  really  has  a  superstitious  belief  that 
destroying  the  efhgy  of  her  husband  will  bring 
to  pass  the  destruction  of  his  Royal  Person." 
We  laugh  at  this  instance  of  Royal  credulity;  yet 
is  not  the  "  mascot  "  a  commonplace  of  our 
conversation?  Madame  de  Montespan,  it  is 
recorded,  had  recourse — not  without  success — to 
the  Black  Mass  as  a  means  towards  gaining  the 
affections  of  Louis  XIV.  It  is  but  a  few  years 
since  the  attention  of  the  police  was  directed 
towards  the  practices  of  those — Society  leaders 
for  the  most  part — who  had  revived,  in  twentieth- 
century  Paris,  the  cult  of  Devil  worship.  The 
most  widely  circulated  London  newspapers  of 
the  day  gravely  discuss  in  "  special  articles  "  the 
respective  value  of  various  mascots  for  motorists, 

5 


The  Book  of  Witches 

or  insert  long  descriptive  reports  of  the  vaticina- 
tions of  this  spirituahst  or  that  wise-woman  as 
to  the  probable  perpetrators  of  mysterious 
murders.  This  is  no  exaggeration,  as  he  may 
prove  for  himself  who  has  patience  to  search  the 
files  of  the  London  daily  Press  for  1907.  And, 
be  it  remembered,  the  self -proclaimed  mission  of 
the  contemporary  Press  is  to  mirror  the  public 
mind  as  the  most  obvious  way  of  instructing 
it. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  is  easy  to  credit 
the  possibility  of  a  revival  of  the  belief  in  witch- 
craft even  in  the  most  civilised  countries  of  the 
modern  world.  What  is  more,  it  is  far  from 
certain  that  such  a  revival  would  be  altogether 
deplorable.  Granted  that  oceans  of  innocent 
blood  were  shed  in  the  name  of  witchcraft — the 
same  might  be  said  of  Christianity,  of  patriotism, 
of  liberty,  of  half  a  hundred  other  altogether  un- 
exceptionable ideals.  And,  as  with  them,  the 
total  extinction  of  the  witchcraft  superstition 
might,  not  impossibly,  have  results  no  less  disas- 
trous than,  for  instance,  the  world-wide  adoption 
of  European  fashions  in  dress.  This  quite  apart 
from  any  question  of  whether  or  no  witches  have 
ever  existed  or  do  still  exist.  Even  if  we  grant 
that  superstition  is  necessarily  superstitious  in  the 
more  degraded  sense  of  the  word,  we  need  not 
therefore  deny  it  some  share  in  alleviating  the 
human  lot. 

6 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

A  very  large — perhaps  the  greater — share  of 
human  happiness  is  based  upon  "  make  believe." 

The  world  would  be  dull,  miserable,  intoler- 
able did  we  believe  only  what  our  unfeeling 
stepmother  Science  would  have  us  believe.  It  is 
already  perceptibly  less  endurable — for  those  un- 
fortunate enough  to  be  civilised — since  we  de- 
finitely abandoned  judgment  by  the  senses  in 
favour  of  algebraical  calculations.  While  it 
might  be  too  much  to  say  that  the  number  of 
suicides  has  increased  in  proportion  to  the  decline 
of  witchcraft,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  superstition 
of  whatever  kind  has,  in  the  past,  played  a  notable 
part  in  making  humanity  contented  with  its  lot. 
The  scientist  has  robbed  us  of  Romance — he  has 
taken  from  many  of  us  our  hope  of  Heaven,  with- 
out giving  us  anything  to  put  in  its  place;  he 
reduces  the  beauty  of  Nature  to  a  formula,  so 
that  we  may  no  longer  regard  a  primrose  as  a 
primrose  and  nothing  more;  he  even  denies  us 
the  privilege  of  regarding  our  virtues  and  vices 
as  anything  more  than  the  inevitable  results  of 
environment  or  heredity.  Every  day  he  steals 
away  more  and  more  of  our  humanity,  strips  us 
of  yet  another  of  the  few  poor  garments  of 
phantasy  shielding  us  from  the  Unbearable. 
He  is  indeed  the  Devil  of  modern  days, 
forcing  knowledge  upon  us  whether  we  will 
or  no.  And  we,  instead  of  execrating  him  after 
the  goodly  fashion  of  our  forefathers,  offer  our 

7 


The  Book  of  Witches 

happiness  upon  his  altars  as  though  he  were 
indeed  the  God  he  has  explained  away.  And 
why?  Purely  on  the  faith  of  his  own  assevera- 
tions. 

Why  should  we  accept  the  scientist  more  than 
his  grandmother,  the  witch?  We  have  no  better 
reason  for  accepting  him  than  for  rejecting  what 
he  tells  us  are  no  more  than  idle  dreams.  Let 
him  discover  what  he  will,  it  does  but  vouch  the 
more  decidedly  for  the  illimitability  of  his,  and 
our,  ignorance.  It  is  true  he  can  perform 
apparent  miracles ;  so  could  the  witch.  He  pooh- 
poohs  the  arts  that  were  so  terrible  to  former 
generations;  our  posterity  will  laugh  at  his 
boasted  knowledge  as  at  a  boastful  child's. 
Already  there  are  world-wide  signs  that  whatever 
his  success  in  the  material  world,  mankind  is 
ready  to  revolt  against  his  tyranny  over  the 
Unseen.  The  innumerable  new  religious  sects, 
the  thousand  and  one  ethical  fads,  the  renaissance 
of  so  many  ancient  faiths — the  Spiritualist  and  the 
Theosophist,  the  Christian  Scientist  and  the 
Cooneyite,  the  Tolstoyan  and  the  Salvationist — 
laugh  at  them  individually  who  may — are  all  alike 
outward  and  visible  signs  of  the  revolt  of  man 
against  being  relegated  to  the  insignificance  of  a 
scientific  incident.  And  among  such  troubled 
waters  witchcraft  may  well  come  into  its  own 
again.  For  it,  as  'much  as  any,  has  brought 
happiness  out  of  misery.       Consider  the  unsuc- 

8 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

cessful  man.  Under  the  regime  of  enlighten- 
ment he  can  find  no  one  to  blame  for  his  sorrows, 
nor  anywhere  to  look  for  their  solacement.  Every- 
thing works  according  to  irnmutable  laws;  he  is 
sick,  poor,  miserable,  because  the  Law  of  the 
Inevitable  will  have  it  so ;  he  has  no  God  to  whom 
he  can  pray  for  some  capricious  alleviation;  he 
cannot  buy  good  fortune  from  the  Devil  even  at 
the  price  of  his  soul — there  is  no  God,  nor  Devil, 
nor  good  fortune  nor  ill ;  nothing  but  the  imper- 
turbably  grinding  cog-wheels  upon  whose  orbit  he 
is  inevitably  bound.  Were  he  not  a  happier  man 
if  he  might  find  an  old-time  witch  whose  spells, 
being  removed,  would  leave  him  hope,  even 
though  fulfilment  never  come?  Undoubtedly. 
We  have  been  told  that  had  there  been  no  God, 
it  would  have  been  necessary  to  invent  one.  Yes, 
and  along  with  Him  a  Devil  and  good  and  evil 
spirits,  and  good  luck  and  bad,  and  superstitions 
as  many  as  we  can  cram  into  our  aching  pates — 
anything,  everything  that  may  save  us  from  the 
horrible  conception  of  a  machine-like  Certainty, 
from  which  there  is  no  escape,  after  which  there 
is  no  future.  Surely  it  were  better  that  a  few 
thousand  old  women  be  murdered  in  the  name  of 
superstition,  a  few  millions  of  human  beings 
butchered  in  the  name  of  religion,  than  that  all 
mankind  be  doomed  to  such  a  fate. 

Be  it  remembered,  too,  that  even  the  witch  has 
her  grievance  against  the  learned  numbskulls  who 

9 


The  Book  of  Witches 

have  undone  her.  For  the  witch-life  was  not 
without  its  alleviations.  Consider.  Without  her 
witchcraft  she  was  no  more  than  a  poor  old, 
starved,  shrunken  woman,  inconsiderable  and  un- 
considered, ugly,  despised,  unhappy.  With  it 
she  became  a  Power.  She  was  feared — as  all 
mankind  wishes  to  be — hated  perhaps,  but  still 
feared;  courted,  also,  by  those  who  sought  her 
help.  She  was  again  Somebody,  a  recognisable 
entity,  a  human  being  distinguished  from  the 
common  ruck.  Surely  that  more  than  outweighed 
the  chances  of  a  fiery  death.  Nor  was  the  method 
of  her  death  without  its  compensations.  Painful 
indeed  it  was,  though  scarcely  more  so  than  slow 
starvation.  But  if  she  knew  herself  innocent, 
she  knew  as  well  that  her  short  agony  was  but  the 
prelude  to  the  eternal  reward  of  martyrdom.  If 
she  believed  herself,  with  that  poor  weary  brain 
of  hers,  sold  to  the  Devil,  what  a  world  of  con- 
solation in  the  thought  that  he,  the  Prince  of  the 
Powers  of  Darkness,  scarcely  inferior  to  the 
Almighty  Himself,  and  to  Him  alone,  should 
have  singled  her  out  as  the  one  woman  whose 
help  he  needed  in  all  the  countryside.  And  this 
being  so,  was  there  not  always  the  hope  that, 
as  he  had  promised,  he  might  appear  even  at  the 
eleventh  hour  and  protect  his  own.  If  he  failed, 
the  witch  had  but  little  time  to  realise  it  and  all 
the  Hereafter,  full  of  infinite  possibilities,  before 
her.     Few  witches,  I  think,  but  would  have  pre- 

lO 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

ferred  their  grim  pre-eminence,  with  its  sporting 
interest,  to  being  made  the  butt  of  doctors  little 
wiser  than  themselves  in  the  sight  of  infinity,  held 
up  to  mockery  as  silly  old  women,  cozening  or 
self-cozened. 

If  witches  do  not  in  fact  exist  for  us,  it  is  be- 
cause we  have  killed  them  with  laughter — as  many 
a  good  and  evil  cause  has  been  killed.  Had  we 
laughed  at  them  from  the  beginning  of  things  it 
is  even  possible  that  they  had  never  existed. 
But,  as  between  them  and  Science,  the  whole 
weight  of  evidence  is  in  their  favour.  There  is 
the  universal  verdict  of  history.  For  untold  cen- 
turies, as  long  as  mankind  has  lorded  it  over  the 
earth,  their  active  existence  was  never  held  in 
doubt,  down  to  within  the  last  few  generations. 
The  best  and  wisest  men  of  their  ages  have  seen 
them,  spoken  with  them,  tested  their  powers  and 
suffered  under  them,  tried,  sentenced,  executed 
them.  Every  nation,  every  century  bears  equal 
testimony  to  their  prowess.  Even  to-day,  save  for 
a  tiny  band  of  over-educated  scoffers  sprung  for 
the  most  part  from  a  race  notorious  for  its  wrong- 
headed  prejudice,  the  universal  world  accepts 
them  without  any  shadow  of  doubt.  In  August  of 
the  present  year  a  police-court  case  was 
heard  at  Witham,  an  Essex  town  not  fifty 
miles  from  London,  in  which  the  defend- 
ant stood  accused  of  assaulting  another  man 
because    his    wife    had    bewitched    him.     And 

II 


The  Book  of  Witches 

it  was  given  in  evidence  that  the  complainant's 
wife  was  generally  regarded  as  a  witch  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Tiptree  district.  Nor,  as  I 
have  already  pointed  out,  does  Tiptree  stand 
alone.  Dare  we,  then,  accept  the  opinion  of  so 
few  against  the  experience,  the  faith,  of  so  many  ? 
If  so,  must  we  not  throw  all  history  overboard  as 
well?  We  are  told  that  an  Attila,  a  Mahomet, 
an  Alexander,  or,  to  come  nearer  to  our  own  days, 
a  Napoleon  existed  and  did  marvellous  deeds 
impossible  to  other  men.  We  read  of  miracles 
performed  by  a  Moses,  a  Saint  Peter,  a  Buddha. 
Do  we  refuse  to  believe  that  such  persons  ever 
existed  because  their  recorded  deeds  are  more  or 
less  incompatible  with  the  theories  of  modern 
science?  The  witch  carries  history  and  the 
supernatural  tightly  clasped  in  her  skinny  arms. 
Let  us  beware  lest  in  turning  her  from  our  door 
she  carry  them  along  with  her,  to  leave  us  in  their 
place  the  origin  of  species,  radium,  the  gramo- 
phone, and  some  imperfect  flying-machines. 

Those  same  flying-machines  provide  yet  another 
argument  in  the  witch's  favour.  Why  deny  the 
possibility  that  she  possessed  powers  many  of 
which  we  possess  ourselves.  The  witch  flew 
through  the  air  upon  a  broomstick;  Mr.  Henry 
Farman  and  Mr.  Wilbur  Wright,  to  mention  two 
out  of  many,  are  doing  the  same  daily  as  these 
lines  are  written.  The  vast  majority  of  us  have 
never    seen    either    gentleman;    we    take    their 

12 


On  a  Possible  Revival  of  Witchcraft 

achievements  on  trust  from  the  tales  told  by  news- 
paper correspondents — a  race  of  men  inevitably 
inclined  towards  exaggeration.  Yet  none  of  us 
deny  that  Mr.  Farman  exists  and  can  fly  through 
the  air  upon  a  structure  only  more  stable  than  a 
broomstick  in  degree.  Why  deny  to  the  witch 
that  faith  you  extend  to  the  aeronaut  ?  Or,  again, 
a  witch  cured  diseases,  or  caused  them,  by  reciting 
a  charm,  compounding  a  noxious  brew  in  a  kettle, 
making  passes  in  the  air  with  her  hands.  A 
modern  physician  writes  out  a  prescription,  mixes 
a  few  drugs  in  a  bottle — and  cures  diseases.  He 
could  as  easily  cause  them  by  letting  loose  in- 
visible microbes  out  of  a  phial.  Is  the  one  feat 
more  credible  than  the  other?  The  witch  sent 
murrains  upon  cattle — and  removed  them.  He 
were  a  poor  M.R.C.V.S.  who  could  not  do  as 
much.  In  a  story  quoted  elsewhere  in  this 
volume,  a  sorcerer  of  Roman  days  bewitched  his 
horses  and  so  won  chariot-races.  We  refuse  him 
the  tribute  of  our  belief,  but  we  none  the  less 
warn  the  modern  "  doper  "  off  our  racecourses. 
The  witch  could  cause  rain,  or  stay  it.  Scarcely 
a  month  passes  but  we  read  well  attested  accounts 
of  how  this  or  that  desert  has  been  made  to 
blossom  like  the  rose  by  irrigation  or  other  means. 
But  a  few  months  since  we  were  told  that  an 
Italian  scientist  had  discovered  a  means  whereby 
London  could  be  relieved  of  fogs  through  some 
subtle  employment  of  electricity.     It  is  true  that 

13 


The   Book  of  Witches 

since  then  we  have  had  our  full  complement  of 
foggy  weather;  but  does  anyone  regard  the  feat 
as  incredible? 

In  all  the  long  list  of  witch-attainments  there 
is  not  one  that  would  gain  more  than  a  passing 
newspaper  paragraph  in  the  silly  season  were  it 
performed  in  the  London  of  to-day.  Why,  then, 
this  obstinate  disbelief  in  the  perfectly  credible? 
Largely,  perhaps,  because  the  witch  was  under- 
stood to  perform  her  wonders  by  the  aid  of  the 
Devil  rather  than  of  the  Dynamo.  But  must  she 
be  therefore  branded  as  an  impostor?  Certainly 
not  by  those  who  believe  in  a  personal  Spirit  of 
Evil.  I  do  not  know  the  proportion  of  profess- 
ing Christians  who  to-day  accept  the  Devil  as 
part  of  their  faith,  but  it  must  be  considerable; 
and  the  same  is  the  case  with  many  non- Christian 
beliefs.  They  who  can  swallow  a  Devil  have 
surely  no  excuse  for  refusing  a  witch.  Nor  is 
the  difficulty  greater  for  those  who,  while  reject- 
ing the  Devil,  accept  the  existence  of  some  sort 
of  Evil  Principle — recognise,  in  fact,  that  there 
is  such  a  thing  as  evil  at  all.  For  them  the  pic- 
turesque incidentals  of  witch-life,  the  signing  of 
diabolical  contracts,  aerial  journeyings  to  the 
Sabbath,  and  so  forth,  are  but  allegorical  expres- 
sion of  the  fact  that  the  witch  did  evil  and  was 
not  ashamed,  are  but  roundabout  ways  of  express- 
ing a  great  truth,  just  as  are  the  first  three 
chapters    of    Genesis    or    the    story    that    Han- 


On   a   Possible    Revival   of  Witchcraft 

nibal  cut  his  way  through  tlie  Alps  by  the  use 
of  vinegar. 

The  conscientious  agnostic,  again,  has  no 
greater  reason  for  disbelieving  in  witches  and  all 
their  works  than  for  refusing  his  belief  to  such 
historical  characters  as  Cleopatra  and  Joan  of  Arc 
— eminent  witches  both,  if  contemporary  records 
may  be  trusted.  I  pass  over  the  great  army  of 
heterodox  sects.  Unitarians,  Christian  Scientists, 
and  the  like,  many  of  whom  unite  with 
the  orthodox  in  accepting  the  principle  of 
Evil  in  some  form  or  other,  and  with  it,  as  a 
natural  corollary,  the  existence  of  earthly  agencies 
for  its  better  propagation;  while,  for  the  rest, 
witchcraft  stands  in  no  worse  position  than  do  the 
other  portions  of  revealed  religion  which  they 
accept  or  do  not  accept,  as  their  inclinations  lead 
them. 

It  is  sometimes  held  out  as  an  argument  for 
implicit  belief  in  the  Biblical  legend  of  the 
Deluge  that  its  universality  among  all  races  of 
mankind  from  China  to  Peru  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  accepting  Noah  and  his  Ark. 
How  much  more  forcibly  does  the  same  argument 
uphold  the  bona  fides  of  the  witch.  Not  only 
has  she  been  accepted  by  every  age  and  race,  but 
she  has  everywhere  and  always  been  dowered 
with  the  same  gifts.  We  find  the  witch  of  ancient 
Babylon  an  adept  in  the  making  of  those  same 
waxen  or  clay  images  in  which,  as  we  have  seen, 

IS 


The   Book  of  Witches 

a  nineteenth-century  Queen  of  England  placed 
such  fond  reliance.  Witch-knots,  spells,  philtres, 
divination — the  witch  has  been  as  conservative  as 
she  has  been  enduring.  Every  other  profession 
changes  and  has  changed  its  aspects  and  its 
methods  from  century  to  century.  Only  the 
witch  has  remained  faithful  to  her  original  ideals, 
confident  in  the  perfection  of  her  art.  And  for 
all  reward  of  such  unexampled  steadfastness  we, 
creatures  of  the  moment,  deny  that  this  one  un- 
changing human  type,  this  Pyramid  of  human 
endeavour,  has  ever  existed  at  all !  Buttressed, 
then,  upon  the  Scriptures,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
holy  writings  of  Buddhist,  Brahmin,  Mahometan, 
and  every  other  religion  of  the  first  class,  coun- 
tenanced, increasingly  though  unwittingly,  by  the 
researches  of  science  into  the  vastness  of  our 
ignorance ;  acceptable  to  orthodox  and  heterodox 
alike,  vouched  for  by  history  and  personal  testi- 
mony of  the  most  convincing,  our  rejection  of  the 
witch  is  based  but  upon  the  dogmaticisms  of  one 
inconsiderable  class,  the  impenitent  atheist, 
bHnded  by  the  imperfection  of  his  senses  into 
denying  everything  beyond  their  feeble  compre- 
hension. To  deny  our  recognition  to  a  long  line 
of  women  who,  however  mistakenly,  have  yet,  in 
the  teeth  of  prodigious  difficulties,  persevered  in 
their  self-allotted  task  with  an  altruistic  en- 
thusiasm perhaps  unrivalled  in  the  history  of 
the  world — to  relegate  those  who  have  left  such 

i6 


On   a   Possible   Revival   of  Witchcraft 

enduring  marks  upon  the  face  of  history  to  an 
obscure  corner  of  the  nursery,  and  that  upon  such 
feeble  and  suspect  testimony,  were  to  brand  our- 
selves as  materialists  indeed.  Rather  let  us 
believe — and  thus  prove  our  belief  in  human 
nature — that  long  after  the  last  atheist  has  de- 
parted into  the  nothingness  he  claims  as  his  birth- 
right, the  witch,  once  more  raised  to  her  seat  of 
honour,  will  continue  to  regulate  the  lives  and 
destinies  of  her  devotees  as  unquestioned  and  as 
unquestionable  as  she  was  in  the  days  of  Saul 
and  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  It  is  to  women  that  we 
must  look  chiefly  for  the  impetus  towards  this 
renaissance.  Always  the  more  devout,  the  more 
faithful  half  of  humanity,  there  is  yet  another 
peculiar  claim  upon  her  sympathies  towards  the 
witch.  In  days  such  as  ours,  when  the  whole 
problem  of  the  rights  and  wrongs  of  women  is 
among  the  most  urgent  and  immediate  with  which 
we  have  to  deal,  it  were  as  anachronistic  as 
unnatural  that  Woman  should  allow  the  high 
purpose,  the  splendid  endurance,  the  noble 
steadfastness  in  inquiry,  of  a  whole  great  section 
of  her  sex — including  some  of  the  most  de- 
servedly famous  women  that  ever  lived — should 
allow  all  this  not  only  to  be  forgotten,  but  to  be 
absolutely  discredited  and  denied.  Persecuted 
by  man-made  laws  as  she  has  ever  been,  and  as 
eternally  in  revolt  against  them,  there  could  be 
no  more  appropriate  or  deserving  figure  to  be 

17  c 


The   Book  of  Witches 

chosen  as  Patroness  of  the  great  fight  for  free- 
dom than  the  much-Hbelled,  much-martyrised, 
long-enduring,  eternally  misunderstood  Witch. 

No.  The  time  has  come  when  we  can  appre- 
ciate the  artistic  temperament  of  Nero;  when 
Bluebeard  is  revealed  to  us  in  the  newer  and 
more  kindly  aspect  of  an  eccentric  Marshal  of 
France;  when  many  of  us  are  ready  to  believe 
that  Caesar  Borgia  acted  from  a  mistaken  sense  of 
duty ;  and  that  Messalina  did  but  display  the  quali- 
ties natural  to  a  brilliant  Society  leader.  Surely 
among  them  all  not  one  is  more  deserving  of 
"  whitewashing  "  than  that  signal  instance  of  the 
femme  incomfnse,  the  Witch.  We  may  not 
approve  all  her  actions,  we  may  not  accept 
her  as  an  example  to  be  generally  followed;  let 
us  at  least  so  far  escape  the  charge  of  narrow- 
mindedness  and  lack  of  imagination  as  to  pay 
her  the  tribute,  if  not  of  a  tear,  at  least  of  respect- 
ful credulity. 


i8 


CHAPTER  II 

A    SABBATH-GENERAL 

It  is  wild  weather  overhead.  All  day  the  wind 
has  been  growing  more  and  more  boisterous, 
blowing  up  great  mountains  of  grey  cloud  out  of 
the  East,  chasing  them  helter-skelter  across  the 
sky,  tearing  them  into  long  ribbons  and  thrashing 
them  all  together  into  one  whirling  tangle,  through 
which  the  harassed  moon  can  scarcely  find  her 
way.  The  late  traveller  has  many  an  airy  buffet 
to  withstand  ere  he  can  top  the  last  ascent  and 
see  the  hamlet  outlined  in  a  sudden  glint  of 
watery  moonlight  at  his  feet.  Those  who  lie 
abed  are  roused  by  the  moaning  in  the  eaves,  to 
mutter  fearfully,  "  The  witches  are  abroad  to- 
night!  " 

The  witch  lives  by  herself  in  a  dingle,  a 
hundred  yards  beyond  the '  last  cottage  of  the 
hamlet.  The  dingle  is  a  wilderness  of  brush- 
wood, through  which  a  twisted  pathway  leads  to 
the  witch's  door.  Matted  branches  overhang  her 
roof -tree,  and  even  when  the  moon,  breaking  for 
a  moment  from  its  net  of  cloud,  sends  down  a 

19  c  2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

brighter  ray  than  ordinary,  it  does  but  emphasise 
the  secretiveness  of  the  ancient  moss-grown 
thatch  and  the  ill-omened  plants,  henbane,  purple 
nightshade,  or  white  bryony,  that  cluster  round 
the  walls.  He  were  a  bold  villager  who  dared 
venture  anywhere  within  the  Witch's  dingle  on 
such  a  night  as  this.  The  very  wind  wails  among 
the  clashing  branches  in  a  subdued  key,  very 
different  from  its  boisterous  carelessness  on  the 
open  downs  beyond. 

There  is  but  one  room — and  that  of  the  barest 
— in  the  witch's  cottage.  The  village  children, 
who  whisper  of  hoarded  wealth  as  old  Mother 
Hackett  passes  them  in  the  gloaming,  little  know 
how  scant  is  the  fare  and  small  the  grace  they 
must  look  for  who  have  sold  themselves  to  such 
a  master.  She  sleeps  upon  the  earthen  floor, 
with  garnered  pine-needles  for  mattress.  She 
has  a  broken  stool  to  sit  on,  and  a  great  iron  pot 
hangs  above  the  slumbering  embers  on  the  clay 
hearth. 

It  wants  still  an  hour  to  midnight,  this  eve  of 
May  Day,  when  there  comes  a  stirring  among 
these  same  embers.  They  are  thrust  aside,  and 
up  from  beneath  them  Something  heaves  its  way 
into  the  room.  It  is  the  size  of  a  fox,  black  and 
hairy,  shapeless  and  with  many  feet.  From 
somewhere  in  its  middle  two  green  eyes  shed  a 
baleful  light  that  horribly  illuminates  the  room. 
It  moves  across  the  floor,  after  the  manner  of  a 

20 


A  Sabbath-General 

great  caterpillar,  and  as  it  nears  her  the  witch 
casts  a  skinny  arm  abroad  and  mutters  in  her 
sleep.  It  reaches  the  bed,  lifts  itself  upon  it,  and 
mumbles  something  in  her  ear.  She  awakes,  rises 
upon  her  elbow,  and  replies  peevishly.  She  has 
no  fear  of  the  Thing — it  is  a  familiar  visitant. 
She  is  angry,  and  scolds  it  in  a  shrill  old  voice 
for  disturbing  her  too  soon.  Has  she  not  the 
Devil's  marks  upon  her — breast  and  thigh — 
round,  blue  marks  that  are  impervious  to  all  pain 
from  without,  but  itch  and  throb  when  it  is  time 
for  her  to  go  about  her  devilish  business?  The 
Thing  takes  her  scoldings  lightly,  twitting  her 
with  having  overslept  herself  at  the  last  Sabbath 
— ^which  she  denies.  They  fall  a-jesting;  she 
calls  it  Tom — Vinegar  Tom;  and  they  laugh 
together  over  old  exploits  and  present  purposes. 

A  moonbeam  glints  -through  a  hole  in  the 
thatch.  Where  the  witch  has  lain  now  sits  a 
black  cat,  larger  than  any  of  natural  generation — 
as  large,  almost,  as  a  donl^ey.  It  talks  still  with 
the  witch's  voice,  and  lingers  awhile,  the  two  pairs 
of  green  eyes  watching  each  other  through  the 
darkness.  At  last,  with  a  careless  greeting,  it 
bounds  across  the  floor,  leaps  up  the  wall  to  the 
chimney  opening,  and  is  gone.  The  shapeless 
Thing  remains  upon  the  bed.  Its  sides  quiver, 
it  chuckles  beneath  its  breath  in  a  way  half- 
human,  yet  altogether  inhuman  and  obscene. 

The  black  cat  is  hastening  towards  the  hamlet 

21 


The  Book  of  Witches 

under  the  shadow  of  the  brushwood.  When  she 
comes  within  sight  of  the  end  house,  she  leaves 
the  path  and  strikes  out  into  the  gorse-clad  waste 
beyond  the  pasture,  keeping  to  it  until  she  is 
opposite  the  cottage  of  Dickon  the  waggoner.  A 
child  has  been  born,  three  days  back,  to  Dickon 
and  Meg  his  wife.  It  is  not  yet  baptised,  for  the 
priest  lives  four  miles  away,  beyond  the  downs, 
and  Dickon  has  been  too  pressed  with  work  to 
go  for  him.  To-morrow  will  be  time  enough,  for 
it  is  the  healthiest  child,  not  to  say  the  most 
beautiful,  the  gossips  have  ever  set  eyes  upon. 
Perhaps,  if  Meg  had  not  forgotten  in  her  new- 
found happiness  how,  just  after  her  wedding, 
when  old  Mother  Hackett  passed  her  door,  she 
made  the  sign  of  the  cross  and  cried  out  upon 
the  old  dame  for  a  foul  witch,  she  might  not  be 
sleeping  so  easily  now  with  her  first-born  on  her 
bosom. 

The  black  cat  creeps  on  under  the  shadow  of 
a  hedge.  Old  Trusty,  the  shepherd's  dog,  left 
to  guard  the  flock  during  the  night,  sees  where 
she  goes,  and,  taking  her  for  a  lurking  fox, 
charges  fiercely  towards  the  hedge,  too  eager  to 
give  tongue.  But  at  the  first  flash  of  the  green 
eyes  as  she  turns  her  head,  he  knows  with  what 
he  has  to  deal,  and  flies  whimpering  for  shelter 
in  the  gorse,  his  tail  between  his  legs.  For  a 
dog  can  tell  a  witch  more  readily  than  can  his 
master — and  fears  her  as  greatly. 

22 


A   Sabbath-General 

The  black  cat  being  come  to  Dickon's  cottage, 
waits  for  a  moment  to  be  sure  that  all  is  quiet, 
then  leaps  upon  the  low  roof,  gains  the  summit, 
and  so  descends  by  way  of  the  chimney  to  the 
room  where  lie  the  sleeping  family.  Again  it 
waits,  listening  to  their  regular  breathing,  its  tail 
whipping  to  and  fro  in  suppressed  excitement.  It 
rises  upon  its  hinder  legs  and  makes  certain 
passes  in  the  air.  North  and  South  and  East  and 
West.  It  approaches  the  bed,  and  softly,  softly 
draws  the  child  from  its  sleeping  mother's  arms. 
It  makes  again  for  the  chimney,  and  in  two 
bounds  is  in  the  open  air,  carrying  the  child 
nestled  against  its  warm  black  fur.  Scarcely  has 
it  gained  the  shadow  of  the  hedge  when  the 
mother,  her  sleep  disturbed,  it  may  be,  by  some 
vague  presentiment  of  danger,  opens  her  eyes. 
But  the  warm  weight  is  still  upon  her  breast,  and 
she  drops  off  to  sleep  again  in  security.  Did  you 
peep  into  the  witch's  cottage  now,  you  would  find 
that  the  black  shapeless  Thing  is  gone.  For  the 
Devil's  imps  can  take  what  shape  they  will  in  their 
master's  service. 

The  black  cat,  with  its  sleeping  charge,  hastens 
back  towards  the  dingle.  Reaching  the  cottage, 
it  places  the  child  upon  the  bed,  turns  twice, 
and  in  that  moment  the  witch,  clad  only  in  her 
shift,  stands  where  the  cat  has  been.  She  is 
awaiting  something,  and  grows  anxious  and  un- 
easy, hobbling  hither  and  thither  about  the  room, 

23 


The   Book  of  Witches 

mumbling  below  her  breath,  and  once,  when  the 
child  wakes  and  wails,  taking  it  in  her  arms  and 
hushing  it,  almost  as  might  a  woman.  It  is  close 
upon  midnight,  yet  the  sign  has  not  come.  For 
the  Evil  One,  being  above  all  things  inconstant, 
never  lets  his  servants  know  time  or  place  until 
the  last  moment,  and  that  in  some  unlooked-for 
way. 

At  last,  when  she  is  quite  tormented  with  anxiety 
lest  she  have  unwittingly  angered  her  master, 
comes  a  stealthy  clattering  of  wings  upon  the 
thatch,  and  down  through  the  hole  that  serves 
for  chimney  rustles  a  black  raven  with  fiery  eyes. 
It  flutters  straight  for  the  witch's  shoulder  and 
there  settleSj  w^hispering  hoarsely  in  her  ear,  while 
the  light  from  its  eyes  throws  her  lean  features, 
with  their  twitching  muscles,  into  pale  relief 
against  the  darkness.  Nodding  eager  assent  to 
the  message.  Mother  Hackett  hobbles  to  her  bed, 
and,  from  a  safe  hiding-place  among  the 
rustling  pine-needles,  draws  out  a  phial.  Next 
she  makes  for  the  corner  beside  the  hearth,  and 
picks  up  the  broomstick  leaning  against  the  wall. 
The  raven  quits  her  shoulder  for  the  pillow, 
thence  to  watch  her  with  its  head  at  an  approving 
angle.  She  opens  the  phial  and  smears  the  con- 
tents on  the  broomstick,  head  and  handle.  It  is 
an  ointment,  and  it  shines  with  the  phosphorescent 
light  that  is  born  of  corruption.  Well  it  may, 
for  it  is  compounded  of  black  millet  and  the 

24 


A   Sabbath-General 

dried  powdered  liver  of  an  unbaptised  child,  just 
such  a  one  as  now  lies  upon  the  witch's  bed,  with 
the  grim  raven  gazing  down  on  it.  The  witch — 
deluded  wretch — believes  the  ointment  to  have 
magic  powers;  that,  smeared  upon  her  broom- 
stick, it  gives  the  senseless  wood  volition  and  the 
power  to  carry  her  sky-high;  or,  if  she  swallow 
it,  that  it  will  render  her  insensible  to  pain,  so 
that  the  worst  efforts  of  the  torturer  and  the  execu- 
tioner shall  force  her  to  confess  nothing.  The 
Devil,  her  master,  knows — none  better — that  no 
such  potency  is  in  any  ointment,  but  that  his  own 
hellish  magic  supports  his  minions  in  the  air  and 
comes,  an  he  so  will,  to  their  aid  in  time  of  trial. 
But  this  he  hides  from  them,  so  that  in  their 
folly  they  may  be  led  to  murder  babes — the 
sacrifice  he  loves  above  all  other. 

The  witch  takes  a  broken  eggshell  and  smears 
it  also  with  the  ointment.  She  goes  to  the  bed 
and  picks  up  the  child,  the  broomstick  hopping 
after  her  across  the  floor.  Being  now  ready  to 
set  out,  she  steps  astride  the  broom-handle,  that 
holds  itself  aslant  for  her  easier  mounting.  She 
waves  her  hand  to  the  attendant  raven,  and  with 
a  rush  that  sends  a  spirtle  of  bright  sparks  up 
from  the  embers,  she  is  away — up  the  chimney, 
through  the  overhanging  branches,  through  the 
ragged  clouds,  and  far  on  her  journey  under  the 
stars.  Yet,  if  any  should  enter  the  witch's  hut 
then   or    thereafter    till    the    dawn,    they    would 

25 


The   Book  of  Witches 

find  her  sleeping  peacefully  upon  the  bed. 
The  raven,  having  carried  their  master's  message, 
has  this  further  duty  :  to  take  upon  himself  the 
witch's  shape  until  her  return,  lest  any,  finding 
her  from  home,  should  scent  out  her  errand. 

The  wind  is  from  the  East.  The  witch  must 
steer  across  it,  for  the  Sabbath-General,  as  the 
corvine  messenger  has  told  her,  is  to  be  held  on 
a  lonely  peak  of  the  Cevennes,  in  mid-France. 
Her  task  is  not  of  the  easiest,  for  the  gusts  come 
fierce  and  sudden,  and  the  broomstick  dips  and 
leaps  before  them  like  a  cockle-boat  on  a  rough 
sea.  The  witch's  scanty  locks .  and  scantier 
clothing  stream  out  almost  at  a  right  angle,  and 
once  the  baby  in  her  arms  raises  its  voice  in  a 
tiny  wail  that  would  soften  the  heart  of  any  but 
a  servant  of  the  Devil.  Up  here  the  moonlight 
wells  down  unchecked,  turning  the  clouds  below 
into  the  shifting  semblance  of  snow  mountains 
and  lakes  of  silver.  They  open  out  now  and 
again  at  the  wind's  bidding  to  allow  glimpses  of 
the  dark,  silent  earth  far  down  beneath. 

So  for  a  time — a  little  time,  for  Devil's  mes- 
sengers fly  fast — the  witch  drives  onward  in  mid- 
air. At  last  the  broomstick  slackens  speed,  seems 
to  hesitate,  circles  twice  or  thrice,  and  then  dives 
earthwards.  The  hag  alights  upon  the  sea- 
shore, upon  a  pebbly  beach  whereon  the  waves 
fling  themselves  in  white  fury  at  the  lash- 
ings of  the  wind,  now  grown  so  high  that  Mother 

26 


A   Sabbath-General 

Hackett  can  scarcely  stand  against  it.  Whether 
because  he  foresees  some  chance  of  evil-doing, 
or  from  mere  inconstancy,  for  he  works  without 
method  and  against  reason,  the  Devil  has  ordered 
that  she  shall  not  cross  the  Channel  on  her 
broomstick.  She  seizes  the  interval  between 
two  waves  to  launch  the  eggshell  she  has  brought 
with  her,  steps  into  it,  raises  the  broomstick  aloft 
as  sail  or  ensign,  and  puts  out  to  sea  in  the  teeth 
of  the  gale.  The  great  waves  roar  far  above  her 
head,  in  foaming  whirlpools  that  might  sink  a 
war-fleet,  but  the  eggshell  rides  triumphantly 
among  them,  dancing  upon  their  crests  and  ship- 
ping never  a  drop  of  water  on  its  passage.  Nor 
can  the  best  efforts  of  the  wind  stay  its  speed. 
Only  once  does  it  deviate  from  its  course,  when 
a  straining  ship,  its  spars  and  sails  all  splintered 
and  riven,  drives  through  the  mist  to  leeward. 
As  she  nears  it,  the  witch  rises  to  her  feet,  throws 
out  one  skinny  hand  towards  it,  and  shrieks  an 
incantation  down  the  wind.  A  flicker  of  light- 
ning shows  itself  in  the  East,  and  a  cloud  drives 
over  the  face  of  the  moon.  When  its  shadow 
is  past,  there  is  no  more  sign  of  the  ship  or  its 
toiling  crew  upon  the  lonely  face  of  the  waters. 
Mother  Hackett  mews  gleefully  as  she  speeds 
Francewards. 

Coming  to  where  the  low  grey  coast  rises  from 
the  waves,  she  once  more  sets  herself  astride  the 
broomstick.     As  she  speeds  on,  sky-high,  towards 

27 


The   Book  of  Witches 

the  meeting-place,  she  falls  in  with  company  bent 
on  the  same  errand.  From  all  sides  they  come, 
converging  to  the  goal,  old,  lean  hags  like  her- 
self, women  in  the  prime  of  life,  young  girls  not 
yet  out  of  their  teens.  Some  bear  with  them  un-x 
weaned  babes,  others  children  of  a  larger  growth, 
yet  others  youths  or  grown  men,  as  offerings  to 
Satan.  These  they  carry  pillion-wise  before 
them,  for  in  the  Devil's  kingdom  all  is  awry, 
imperfect,  contrariwise  to  the  ways  of  Christian 
folk.  Some  of  them  are  mounted  on  goats,  some 
upon  great  toads,  or  flying  snakes,  or  reptiles  of 
uncertain  shape,  or  simple  broomsticks,  as  fancy 
has  directed  their  imperious  despot.  One — a  man 
— rides  side-seated  upon  a  great  fiery  dragon,  that 
in  the  distance  glows  like  a  newly-risen  star.  He 
is  a  mighty  sorcerer,  one  who  commands  Satan 
instead  of  serving  him,  coming  to  the  Sabbath  for 
some  reason  of  his  own,  and  mounted  on  a  steed 
of  his  own  providing. 

The  meeting-place  of  the  Sabbath-General,  as 
Satan,  in  mockery  of  Christian  ritual,  chooses  to 
call  this  foregathering  of  his  servants,  is  a  bare 
peak  in  the  loneliest  part  of  the  Cevennes.  It 
stands  a  little  removed  from  the  centre  of  a  great 
mountain  amphitheatre,  and  just  below  the 
summit  is  a  mountain  tarn,  crystal-pure  and 
casting  back  the  starlight  as  peacefully  as  though 
there  were  no  such  things  as  witch  or  warlock 
beneath  God's  Heaven.     Yet  it  is  not  the  first 

28 


A  Sabbath-General 

time  the  same  meeting-place  has  been  chosen,  for 
not  a  blade  of  grass,  not  the  humblest  creeping 
plant,  grows  upon  the  sterile  rocks.  Every 
growing  thing  withered  away,  root  and  branch, 
when  last  the  forces  of  Hell  gathered  here.  So 
must  the  place  remain,  desert  and  bare,  mute 
witness  of  its  desecration,  until  the  Judgment 
Day. 

The  witches  come  skirling  down  from  the  sky 
like  a  flight  of  unclean  birds,  circHng  above  the 
crags,  hovering  to  choose  a  settling-place  where 
no  sharp-pointed  rock  shall  gash  their  naked  feet, 
chattering  shrilly  the  while.  Those  already 
arrived  are  seated  in  a  wide  circle  on  a  flat  rock- 
ledge  jutting  from  the  mountain  side.  They  are 
mostly  witches  of  the  neighbourhood,  who  have 
come  afoot  and  have  set  out  betimes  lest  they 
be  detained  upon  the  way.  As  more  and  more 
join  the  circle  you  may  find  proof  that  they  lie 
who  declare  the  Devil's  servants  mostly  women. 
It  is  true  that  woman,  by  reason  of  the  frailty  of 
her  nature,  seeks  more  often  to  pry  into  forbidden 
things,  to  her  own  destruction,  and  thus  there  are 
many  more  witches  than  warlocks  or  magicians. 
Yet  of  those  gathered  for  this  Sabbath-General, 
for  every  witch  there  is  one  mortal  man,  to  say 
nothing  of  demons;  for  while  some,  as  Mother 
Hackett,  have  come  alone,  others,  being  the 
younger  and  fairer  of  the  witches,  have  brought 
with  them  two  or  even  three  youths  or  young 

29 


The   Book   of  Witches 

men,  ready  to  take  service  with  the  Evil  One  and 
cast  away  their  hope  of  salvation,  as  did  our 
Father  Adam,  at  the  bidding  of  these  DeHlahs. 
Thus  it  is  that,  in  the  unholy  dances  which  are 
to  follow,  every  witch  will  have  a  man  for  her 
partner,  save  the  most  favoured  who  dance  with 
the  superior  demons,  for  thus  the  Devil  will 
have  it. 

Mother  Hackett,  when  she  dismounts  from  her 
broomstick,  takes  her  place  beside  one  Luckie,  a 
gossip  of  former  Sabbaths,  ill-favoured  as  herself, 
who  comes  from  the  kingdom  of  Fife,  where  she 
is  much  feared  for  the  sudden  tempests  she  raises 
when  the  fishing-fleets  are  sailing  homeward  with 
full  catches.  Next  to  her  is  a  younger  witch, 
fair  and  well-born,  Sidonia  by  name,  of  a  noble 
house  in  Mecklenburg.  She  is  a  tall,  pale  girl, 
with  hair  the  colour  of  ripe  wheat,  and  grey-blue 
eyes.  She  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  Satan,  both 
for  her  beauty  and  for  the  number  of  well-born 
youths  she  has  delivered  into  his  hands.  Next 
to  her  is  a  witch  of  Spain,  beautiful  also,  though 
brown  and  with  black,  beady  eyes.  Between 
these  two  there  is  little  love  lost,  seeing  that  they 
are  women  no  less  than  witches,  and  either  would 
do  the  other  a  mischief  could  she  compass  it. 

Though  all  those  bidden  have  joined  the 
circle,  there  is  yet  no  sign  of  the  Devil's  coming. 
The  witches  cease  their  clacking  and  scan  the 
sky   impatiently,   muttering  curses    against   their 

30 


A   Sabbath-General 

master.  Can  it  be  that  he  means  to  play  them 
false,  having  bidden  them  merely  for  a  jest  and 
to  make  a  mock  of  them?  It  would  not  be  for 
the  first  time — for  his  mind  is  so  crafty  and  so 
uncertain,  his  purpose  so  errant,  that  not  the 
most  favoured  of  his  ministers  has  any  inkling 
of  it. 

Suddenly  there  is  an  eager  rustling  around  the 
expectant  circle.  A  figure  has  appeared  in  the 
centre.  But  their  relief  fades  into  angry  dis- 
appointment. It  is  not  the  Devil  himself.  It  is 
a  small,  mean,  inconsiderable  devil,  so  inferior  in 
the  infernal  hierarchy  that  he  has  not  even  horns 
upon  his  head.  The  circle  grows  smaller  as  the 
witches  press  towards  him,  buzzing  with  angry 
questions.  They  have  no  fear,  no  respect  for 
him;  he  is  a  servant  like  themselves.  If  he  have 
been  deputed  to  represent  his  master,  he  must 
expect  to  pay  dearly  for  the  honour.  He  scans 
the  lowering  faces  anxiously  and  mutters  apolo- 
gies. No  doubt  their  Master  is  upon  the  way 
and  will  soon  arrive.  He  himself  is  but  a  poor 
devil,  a  little  devil;  they  may  be  sure  that  he 
would  not  think  of  putting  a  slight  on  witches 
of  such  eminence.  But  fair  words  will  not 
placate  them.  Already  hands  are  raised  to  strike 
him,  already  some  of  them  are  preparing  to 
scratch  him  with  the  nails  of  their  little  fingers, 
always  worn  long  and  sharp  by  witches,  such  being 
one  of  the  signs  you  may  know  them  by.     Already 

31 


The   Book  of  Witches 

he  has  been  tweaked  and  buffeted  as  earnest  of 
what  he  is  to  look  for.  But  now  another,  more 
dreadful  shape  looms  up  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
circle,  and  the  angry  witches  fall  back  before  it 
in  grovelling  terror.  At  first,  seen  in  the  dim 
light  of  the  waning  moon,  it  is  shapeless,  inchoate. 
Slowly  it  takes  form  before  their  eyes  into  the 
trunk  of  a  great  tree,  with  tangled  limbs  stretch- 
ing out  from  it.  It  has  about  it  the  suggestion 
of  a  face,  leering  and  horrible,  with  set  features 
that  half  emerge  and  half  conceal  themselves  in 
the  gnarling  of  the  bark — such  a  face  as  a  man 
may  see  peering  after  him  out  of  the  darkness 
when  he  passes,  tip-toe,  through  the  depths  of 
an  ancient  forest  at  midnight.  Before  it  the 
witches  make  obeisance,  turning  their  backs  upon 
it  and  bowing  to  the  ground,  in  mockery  of 
Christian  reverence.  When  they  turn  again  the 
tree  has  changed  into  a  goat,  its  eyes  aflame  with 
obscene  passion,  and,  even  as  they  look,  the  goat 
fades  into  a  lion  with  bloody  jaws.  The  lion 
fades  in  turn  into  a  man,  a  comely  man  in  all  but 
his  expression,  and  his  eyes,  which,  whatever  his 
shape,  are  always  those  of  a  goat,  bestial  and 
foul.  He  is  dressed  all  in  black,  but  his  face 
and  hands  are  dull  red — for  his  vitals  are  con- 
suming in  the  flames  of  Hell — and  when  he 
raises  his  hand,  his  wrist  and  forearm  glow  within 
his  cuff  as  though  they  were  made  of  molten  iron. 
On  his  left  hand  the  fingers  are  all  grown  together 

32 


A   Sabbath-General 

into  one  misshapen  claw,  for  however  fair  the 
human  seeming  into  which  the  Devil  moulds 
himself,  you  may  always  know  him  for  what  he 
is,  in  that  some  part  of  him,  an  ear,  a  foot,  or  a 
hand,  is  horribly  misshapen. 

Now  at  last,  all  being  prepared,  attendant  imps 
pass  round  the  circle,  checking  the  numbers  of 
those  present  and  who  bears  the  Devil's  mark 
and  who  must  still  receive  it,  and  who  has  carried 
out  her  appointed  task  and  who  has  failed.  Re- 
turning, they  whisper  the  tale  into  their  master's 
ear,  who  gibbers  with  delight  and  leaps  into  the 
air  and  cracks  his  heels  together,  for  there  is 
nothing  noble  or  of  dignity  about  him,  being  in 
all  things  mean  and  petty,  a  thing  of  low  vices 
rather  than  of  heroic  crimes.  Thereafter  he  sits 
upon  a  throne,  seemingly  of  gold,  that  rises  from 
the  earth  to  receive  him,  while  his  attendants  hold 
aloft  candles  made  of  the  fat  of  drowned  mariners, 
burning  with  a  pale  blue  light.  One  by  one  he 
calls  the  witches  before  him,  calling  them  by 
nicknames,  as  "  Old  Toothless,"  or  "  Wag-in-the- 
wind,"  or  "  Cozling,"  but  never  by  the  names 
given  them  in  Holy  Baptism.  And  they,  making 
obscene  obeisance  before  his  throne,  speak  to 
him  thuswise  also,  calling  him  "  Monsieur,"  or 
"  Grizzleguts,"  or  other  fouler  names.  Next, 
standing  with  her  back  towards  the  throne, 
each  in  turn  makes  recital  of  her  foul 
deeds    since    their    last    meeting :      how    many 

33  D 


The   Book   of  Witches 

of  God's  children  she  has  ruined  and  un- 
done, what  evil  spells  she  has  cast  upon 
crops  and  bestial,  what  tempests  she  has 
raised,  how  she  has  fared  in  furthering  her 
master's  kingdom.  Those  who  have  done  well 
Satan  fondles  and  caresses,  promising  them  great 
reward,  but  the  others  he  hands  over  to  his  imps 
for  present  punishment.  Thus  there  is  one, 
plump  and  well-favoured,  being  a  witch  of 
Sweden,  who,  having  been  given  for  her  task  that 
she  shall  bring  a  neighbour's  son — a  rich  young 
farmer — to  her  master's  allegiance,  has  failed 
therein,  and  that  although  granted  extension  of 
time  for  the  emprise.  Her  the  Devil,  losing  all 
further  patience,  of  which  he  has  but  little  at  the 
best  of  times,  marks  out  for  punishment,  and  his 
demons,  casting  her  straightway  to  the  ground, 
beat  her  with  whips  of  living  snakes  and  scorpions, 
and  bite  and  otherwise  torment  her  with  tooth 
and  claw,  so  ,that  the  blood  runs  from  her  in 
streams.  And  while  she  yells  and  screams  for 
mercy,  flapping  here  and  there  upon  the  ground 
like  a  fish  upon  a  line,  the  whole  assembly  shakes 
with  hideous  laughter  at  the  grotesqueness  of  her 
agony. 

Mother  Hackett,  her  turn  being  come,  rises 
eagerly,  knowing  that  she  has  done  evil  full 
measure  since  the  last  Sabbath.  The  waggoner's 
child  she  hands  to  Gossip  Luckie,  the  time  for 
its  presentation  being  not  yet  come,  and  hobbles 

34 


A   Sabbath-General 

her  fastest  to  her  place  before  the  throne,  pucker- 
ing her  old  eyes  beneath  the  glare  from  the  sur- 
rounding corpse-candles.  It  is  for  this  that  she 
has  borne  the  hardships,  the  hatred  and  persecu- 
tion of  her  Christian  neighbours,  the  starvation 
of  hunger  and  cold  during  the  long  winter  months 
since  the  last  Sabbath.  Her  tale  is  of  murrains 
cast  upon  a  rich  farmer's  cattle,  of  a  crop  of  barley 
that  has  withered  away  beneath  her  spell,  of  a 
tempest  raised  by  her  to  unroof  the  priest's  tithe- 
barn  three  parishes  away,  of  the  digging  up  of 
bodies  from  the  churchyard  to  grace  the  Sabbath 
banquet,  of  three  boys  who,  having  stoned  her, 
have  ever  since  gone  cross-eyed,  vomiting  needles 
incessantly,  and  of  the  ship  sunk  in  mid-Channel 
upon  her  late  crossing.  Also  there  is  the  un- 
baptised  child  she  has  brought  with  her,  to  be 
devoted  to  the  Devil's  service  for  all  time. 
When  her  tale  is  told  she  waits  yet  a  long 
moment,  expectant  of  praise  and  reward.  Praise 
indeed  her  master  lavishes  upon  her,  though  he 
chides  her  also  for  having  brought  him  but  a 
waggoner's  brat  in  place  of  a  child  well-born,  for 
in  them  he  delights  most — and  of  future  reward 
great  promise.  But  he  speaks  as  one  whose 
thoughts  are  elsewhere,  and  his  eyes — which  are 
always  the  eyes  of  a  lustful  goat — wander  to 
where  the  beauteous  Sidonia  waits  smiling  for 
her  turn.  So  Mother  Hackett  must  hobble  back 
to  her  place  in  the  circle,  her  heart  full  of  bitter- 

35  D   2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

ness  and  disappointment,  feeling  that  she  has 
been  tricked  out  of  her  deserts,  knowing  that  she 
must  labour  in  ill-doing  yet  another  year  before 
she  can  hope  for  the  rich  rewards  promised  her 
so  many  weary  years  ago,  yet  still  to  look  for. 
And  she  curses  under  her  breath  as  Sidonia 
passes  in  all  the  pride  of  her  unholy  beauty, 
going  to  where  the  Evil  One  leans  forward  in 
his  chair,  his  eyes  glowing  like  hot  coals,  and 
motions  to  her  to  come  yet  nearer  as  she  tells 
with  trills  of  silvery  laughter,  that  yet  is  alto- 
gether horrible,  of  three  youths  she  has  bewitched, 
and  how  one  has  hanged  himself,  cursing  the 
name  of  God,  and  how  another  has  murdered 
his  own  brother,  and  now  lies  in  durance  awaiting 
death,  and  the  third  she  has  brought  with  her 
to  the  Sabbath,  to  enter  himself  among  the  Devil's 
servants,  abandoning  his  hope  of  Heaven  for  her 
sake.  Of  her  tale  Satan  loses  no  w^ord,  and  when 
she  is  done  he  clips  her  in  his  arms  and  fondles 
her  and  keeps  her  beside  him  throughout  what 
follows. 

When  all  the  witches  have  rendered  account, 
it  is  the  turn  of  the  victims  they  have  brought 
with  them,  the  unbaptised  children  first  and  they 
of  tender  years.  They  are  led  or  carried  before 
the  Devil's  throne,  and  stand  there,  curious  and 
open-eyed,  understanding  nothing  of  what  is 
going  forward,  clustering  together  in  a  group,  the 
elder  girls  holding  the  infants  in  their  arms  and 

36 


A  Sabbath-General 

hushing  them  awkwardly  when  they  cry.  The 
Evil  One  speaks  to  them,  suiting  his  words  to 
their  condition,  his  voice  purring  like  a  cat.  He 
draws  bright  pictures  of  the  reward  they  may 
expect  for  absolute  obedience — if  they  renounce 
their  kindred  and,  those  of  them  who  are  bap- 
tised, their  godfathers  and  godmothers,  and  with 
them  God  and  the  Child  Jesus.  Some  of  the 
elder  among  them  demur  at  this,  whereupon  he 
reasons  with  them,  his  voice  still  soft  and  cruel 
as  a  cat's,  telling  them  that  what  they  have 
learned  of  Holy  Writ  is  but  an  old  wife's  tale, 
and  that  there  is  no  God  but  he  who  speaks, 
being  master  of  both  worlds.  Then  his  eyes 
blaze  brighter  and  his  voice  grows  fierce  and 
menacing,  and  he  leads  them  to  the  side  of  the 
mountain  and  shows  them,  far  below,  a  dreadful 
chasm  with  fierce  flames  leaping  about  it  and 
grim  fire-monsters  lifting  up  their  open  jaws  from 
its  centre.  It  is  but  a  lying  vision,  conjured  up 
by  his  hellish  arts;  but  how  should  such  poor 
babes  know  false  from  true  ?  The  witches  gather 
round  them  and  cozen  and  threaten,  telling  them 
that  if  they  refuse  they  will  be  surely  cast  into 
the  flames,  but  if  they  obey  they  shall  have  all 
that  a  child  best  loves,  full  measure.  So  at  last 
they  do  as  they  are  bidden,  and  swear  away  their 
young  souls  and  their  hope  of  salvation  for  ever 
and  ever,  and  make  obeisance  to  Satan  with 
obscene    ceremonies    of   which    they   understand 

37 


The  Book  of  Witches 

nothing,  doing  all  for  fear  of  the  witches  who 
instruct  them.  When  all,  even  to  the  unweaned 
babes,  are  bound  for  ever  to  Satan's  allegiance, 
they  are  led  away  to  the  shore  of  the  mountain 
tarn,  whither  come  great  toads  swimming  up  from 
its  clear  depths  and  clambering  to  the  shore. 
These  the  children  are  set  to  mind,  being  given 
little  white  switches  for  that  end — Satan  promising 
that  next  year,  if  they  have  deserved  well,  they 
shall  be  granted  the  full  privileges  of  servants  of 
Hell.  Childlike,  when  they  have  overcome  their 
first  horror  of  the  hideous  toads,  they  make  play- 
things of  them,  seeking  to  make  them  gallop  with 
the  white  switches,  and,  especially  the  boys,  for- 
getting all  that  has  passed  in  the  gleefulness  of 
the  moment. 

Meanwhile  the  more  mature  recruits  to  Satan's 
army  are  called  in  turn  before  him,  to  be 
examined  in  their  love  of  evil,  to  make  obeisance 
and  to  receive  his  mark — invented  by  him  in  im- 
pious mockery  of  our  Saviour's  wounds  and  the 
stigmata  borne  on  their  bodies  by  many  of  His 
saints.  All  this  to  the  accompaniment  of  rites  so 
foul  and  bestial  that  they  may  not  be  written 
down.  And  next,  the  present  business  being 
disposed  of,  the  whole  crew  falls  a-dancing,  men, 
women,  and  imps  together.  Back  to  back  the 
couples  dance,  for  the  most  part  stark-naked, 
and  some  with  black  cats  hanging  from  their 
necks  or  waists,  spitting  and  scratching,  and  some 

38 


A  Sabbath-General 

with  hideous  toads  and  serpents  pressed  to  their 
bosoms,  and  all  capering  and  gesturing  with  such 
lewd  and  obscene  antics  that  the  mind  of  man 
can  scarcely  follow  them.  The  imps  who  are  of 
the  number  hold  aloft  their  corpse-candles,  to 
light  their  paces,  and  in  the  middle  of  all  sits  the 
Devil  blowing  upon  a  bagpipe,  sometimes  in  one 
form  and  sometimes  in  another,  as  the  whim  takes 
him.  Higher  and  higher  they  leap,  and  faster 
and  faster  grow  their  steps,  whirling  hither  and 
thither  under  the  blue  light  of  the  candles, 
spurred  on  by  the  droning  of  the  infernal  pipes, 
until  they  fall  a-gasping.  When  the  last  couple 
has  ceased  its  pirouettings,  the  Devil — being  now 
again  in  the  form  of  a  man — lays  aside  his  instru- 
ment and  leads  them  to  where  a  banquet  is  pre- 
pared for  them.  The  tables  are  heaped  high  with 
all  the  delicacies  of  the  earth,  the  rarest  fruits, 
the  choicest  meats,  and  the  most  costly  wines, 
heaped  upon  golden  dishes  that  might  ransom  all 
the  kings  of  Christendom.  For  attendants  there 
are  demons  of  inferior  rank,  who  have  tricked 
themselves  out  into  the  strangest  shapes  they  can 
devise.  Thus,  one  has  a  monstrous  nose,  shaped 
like  a  flute,  upon  which  he  plays  with  his  hands. 
Another  has  sparks  shooting  from  horns  and  tail, 
the  which,  as  they  fall  upon  the  table,  turn  into 
great  beetles.  Another,  having  neither  arms  nor 
legs  nor  head,  rolls  like  a  wheel  upon  his  belly,  in 
the  centre  of  which  blazes  one  great  eye.     Another 

39 


The  Book  of  Witches 

is  nought  but  a  huge  mouth,  and  hops  underneath 
the  tables  biting  the  ankles  of  the  witches.   While 
yet  another  takes  the  shape  of  a  beaker,  whence 
pours    sparkling   wine   into    the    goblets    of    the 
guests.     If  they  seek  to  drink,  it  turns  to  burning 
pitch.     Thus  it  is  indeed  with  all  the  viands,  for 
though  they  seem  all  that  the  heart  or  belly  of 
man  can  desire  and  of  all  things  plenty — saving 
only  salt,  for  that  Satan  cannot  abide,  as  recall- 
ing  the   Last   Supper  upon   earth   of  the    Lord 
Christ — yet    being    tested    they    are    proved    a 
mockery.     For  when  the  guests  stretch  out  their 
hands  for  what  they  most  covet  it  vanishes  from 
their   eyes,   and  in   its   place   is   corruption  and 
rottenness,   the   reeking  flesh   of  murderers   and 
heretics  or  of  cattle  that  have  died  of  a  murrain, 
the    entrails    of    reptiles    or    the    scrapings    of 
middens,  with,  for  drink,  water  in  which  drowned 
suicides  have  rotted,   and  such-like.       Some   of 
those  but  newly  entered  draw  back  in  horror  from 
such  fare,  whereat  the  more  hardened  mock  at 
them,  falling  upon  it  themselves  with  horrid  zest. 
Grown    merry   after    such   feasting,    they    fall 
a-rioting,  jesting,  and  playing  after  such  wise  as 
may  not  be  told,  until  the  time  is  come  for  their 
next  enterprise,  what  time  the  Devil  toys  with  the 
most  well-favoured  wantons  among  them.     When 
at  last  the  signal  is  given,  the  whole  hellish  crew 
rise  into  the  air  again,  their  master  leading  them, 
shrilling  and  squawking  like  a  flight  of  wild  geese 

40 


A  Sabbath-General 

across  the  darkling  sky.  The  Devil  leads  them 
to  an  old  cathedral  town,  a  place  of  ancient 
towers  and  crumbling  walls  and  tall,  high- 
shouldered  houses  that  lean  out  over  narrow 
lanes  as  if  a-gossiping.  Before  the  great  cathe- 
dral is  a  wide  market-place,  very  busy  in  the  day, 
but  silent  now  as  a  graveyard,  with  only  now  and 
then  the  creaking  of  some  wind-harried  sign  to 
tell  of  human  energies.  Four  roads  meet  in  the 
centre  of  the  market-place,  and  there  the  Evil 
One  alights,  his  ministers  behind  him,  and  there 
his  throne  is  set  up  facing  the  portal  of  the 
cathedral — for  it  is  thus  that  Satan  loves  best  to 
carry  on  his  mockery  of  Christian  ritual.  First 
is  gone  through  a  blasphemous  parody  of  Holy 
Baptism,  toads  taking  the  place  of  children. 
Each  is  tricked  out  in  a  velvet  suit  of  black  or 
scarlet,  with  a  bell  tied  to  each  paw  and  one 
hung  round  its  neck.  An  unfrocked  priest,  who 
has  been  a  miracle  of  shamelessness  and  is  now 
sold  to  Satan,  performs  the  blasphemy,  and  the 
oldest  and  foulest  witches  stand  as  sponsors, 
vying  with  each  other  in  the  lewdness  of  their 
responses.  While  this  is  going  forward  a  brace 
of  night-rovers,  intent  upon  a  deed  of  sacrilege, 
come  creeping  through  the  shadows  round  the 
cathedral  walls,  seeking  to  force  an  entrance  into 
the  holy  place.  Their  eyes  and  ears  are  at  their 
keenest,  lest  they  be  apprehended,  but  though 
they  look  right  through  the  crowd  of  demons  and 

41 


The   Book  of  Witches 

witches  thronging  the  open  market-place,  they 
yet  see  nothing  of  them — for,  evil-doers  though 
they  be,  they  have  not  yet  lost  their  chance  of 
salvation,  and  none  but  those  irrevocably  sworn 
of  Satan's  following  can  see  what  befalls  upon  a 
Witches'  Sabbath. 

The  christening  of  the  toads  being  gone 
through,  follows  the  yet  more  blasphemous  cele- 
bration of  the  Black  Mass.  The  foresworn  priest 
again  officiates,  the  imps,  witches,  and  demons 
acting  as  deacons,  acolytes,  or  worshippers,  all 
impiously  mimicking  the  servants  of  God.  In 
place  of  the  Host  is  exalted  a  black  wafer,  cut 
in  the  form  of  a  triangle,  and  the  whole  service 
of  the  Mass  is  gone  through  backwards  from 
end  to  beginning.  The  onlookers  also  make 
their  obeisances  backwards,  with  lewd  gesture  not 
forgotten,  towards  where  the  father  of  all  evil  sits 
grinning  and  mowing  upon  his  throne  over  against 
the  cathedral  door.  Yet  are  they  not  permitted 
to  finish  their  blasphemies,  for  even  as  the  false 
priest  makes  to  administer  the  wafer  to  an  imp, 
who  receives  it,  for  the  greater  mockery,  standing 
upon  his  head,  the  first  pale  shadow  of  the  dawn 
creeps  up  the  eastern  sky.  Seeing  it,  a  lusty 
cock,  roosting  in  some  farmyard  beyond  the  city 
walls,  welcomes  it  with  shrill  crowings.  The 
Devil's  brood  break  off  and  Hsten  fearfully,  for 
Chanticleer  is  a  servant  of  God,  and  held  in  awe 
by    all   demons,    witches,    and    sorcerers    as    the 

42 


A  Sabbath-General 

herald  of  God's  daylight.  A  rival  bird  takes  up 
the  challenge,  and  it  is  echoed  far  and  wide  over 
the  countryside.  The  Evil  One  waits  no  longer, 
but  sinks  at  once,  with  his  throne,  downwards 
through  the  cobble-stones  to  his  abiding-place, 
followed  by  his  attendant  demons.  The  witches 
and  sorcerers  of  the  company  tarry  not,  but  cast 
themselves  afloat  upon  the  air,  wasting  no  time 
or  breath  upon  their  farewells  lest  daylight  sur- 
prise them  ere  they  can  reach  their  homes  and  all 
their  wickedness  be  made  clear. 

Mother  Hackett,  among  the  rest,  throws  herself 
astride  her  broom-handle  and  sails  off  down  the 
wind.  On  this  her  return  she  wastes  no  time 
at  the  sea-coast,  but  shoots  onward  high  in  the 
air,  through  the  increasing  pallor  of  the  morning. 
Over  sea  and  down  she  flies,  and,  dropping  like 
a  stone  into  the  dingle,  enters  her  cottage  by  the 
chimney,  unseen  even  by  the  earliest  ploughman. 
At  her  coming  the  expectant  demon  in  her  shape 
rises  from  the  bed  and  takes  again  the  semblance 
of  a  raven.  A  few  words  of  greeting  and  inquiry, 
and  it  makes  its  exit  by  the  road  it  came,  flying  off 
heavily  across  the  fields,  regardless  of  the  day- 
light, for  who,  seeing  a  raven  fly  towards  the  sea, 
would  think  of  sorcery  or  witchcraft?  Who, 
again,  entering  her  humble  cot  and  seeing  there 
a  poor  old  woman  sleeping  on  a  bed  of  poverty 
would  recognise  in  her  a  foul  witch,  forward  in 
all  wickedness  and  a  most  potent  agent  of  her 

43 


The   Book  of  Witches 

master  Satan.  For  so  cunningly  do  these  devilish 
hags,  aided  by  their  master's  arts,  conceal  their 
exits  and  their  entrances,  their  spells  and  incanta- 
tions, that  there  be  many  ignorant  men  who, 
openly  flouting  Holy  Writ,  declare,  even  in  these 
enlightened  days,  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as 
witchcraft  or  sorcery,  and  that  they  who  seek  out 
witches  and  slay  them  are  no  better  than  cruel 
murderers  of  poor  helpless  old  v^omen.  Such  are 
the  craft  and  malice  of  Satan  and  the  folly  of 
mankind. 


44 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    ORIGINS    OF    THE    WITCH 

The  witch,  in  the  broader  sense  of  the  word,  may 
be  said  to  have  existed  ever  since  mankind  first 
evolved  an  imagination,  and  may  be  expected  to 
expire  only  with  the   death  of  the  last  woman. 
Given     the     supernatural,     and     sorcery     must 
follow    in    some    shape    or    other    as  its    corol- 
lary.     Whence    also    the    witch    is    as    ubiqui- 
tous   as    she    is    enduring.      Under    some    form 
or  other   she   exists,   and  has   existed,   in  every 
quarter    of    the    globe;    she    is    as    familiar    to 
the  English  peasant  as  to  the  West  African,  in 
South  America  as  in  Japan.     Her  attributes  vary, 
and   have   varied,   with   the   racial   temperament 
and  the  religious  conceptions  of  her  worshippers 
and  persecutors,  as  widely  as  do,  and  have  done, 
their    gods.       But    it    was    left    for    mediaeval 
Christianity  to  give  her  the  definite  shape  in  which 
she  is  now  most  universally  recognised,  and  it  is 
to  the  Christian  ideal  of  celibacy  that  she  owes, 
if  indirectly,  the  more  obscene,  and  latterly  the 

45 


The   Book  of  Witches 

more  grotesque,  of  her  attributes,  lifting  her  at 
first  to  an  evil  equality  with  the  horned  Devil  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  degrading  her  ultimately  to  the  \ 
"  horrid  old  witch  "  of  nursery  legend. 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  this  same_^Jiorrid  old 
witch  "  to  the  pagan  divinity,  but  there_is_iio 
break  in  the  long  pedigree.  It  may  be  traced 
still  further  through  the  mists  of  antiquity — to  the 
earliest  days  of  human  motherhood.  Only,  as 
between  goddess  and  witch,  we  are  confronted 
with  a  Darwinian  problem.  Is  the  witch  indeed 
daughter  of  the  goddess,  or  are  both  descended 
from  a  common  ancestress?  To  my  mind,  the 
latter  is  the  more  correct  line  of  descent,  with 
the  pagan  priestess  as  connecting  link. 

"  To  one  wizard,  ten  thousand  witches,"  quotes 
Michelet  from  a  forgotten  writer  of  the  days  of 
Louis  Treize;  and  throughout  all  the  history  of 
sorcery  women  have  formed  the  majority  of  its 
practitioners.  Our  forefathers  attributed  this  to 
the  weakness  of  womankind,  always  curious  to 
probe  the  mysteries  of  the  Unknown,  always  prone 
to  fall  into  the  snare  of  evil.  A  more  charitable 
— and  correcter — explanation  would  be  found  in 
the  greater  quickness  of  her  perceptions.  If  Eve 
first  gave  the  apple  to  Adam,  she  gave  with  it 
the  future  of  civilised  humanity.  The  first 
mother  gave  birth  to  twin- daughters,  the  goddess 
and  the  witch,  and  from  one  or  other  of  them 
came  the  impetus  which  has  carried  mankind  to 

46 


The  Origins   of  the  Witch 

its  present  stage  of  progress,  and  will  carry  it  yet 
nearer  towards  Heaven. 

The  primitive  father  was  an  animal,  with 
potentialities — among  animals  without  them.  His 
intellect  was  concentrated  in  his  activities,  in 
providing  for  the  material  needs  of  himself  and 
his  family.  His  position  towards  his  wife  was 
very  much  what  satirists  would  have  us  believe 
is  that  of  the  American  business  man  to-day.  His 
laborious  days  were  spent  in  tracking  his  prey 
through  the  forest,  his  leisure  in  sleeping,  eating, 
and  digesting.  The  mother,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  bound  to  the  home  by  reason  of  her  mother- 
hood. Less  active,  she  was  more  contemplative, 
noting  in  the  order  of  events  the  best  means  of 
preservation  for  the  small  pink  thing  that  could 
not  live  without  her  care,  her  mind  always  alert 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  moment.  Thus  she 
acquired  knowledge  of  things  beneficent  or  harm- 
ful, of  the  food  most  apt  for  its  nourishment,  of 
the  herbs  growing  around  the  clearing  best  fitted 
to  cure  its  infantile  complaints.  She  experi- 
mented, cautiously  but  continuously,  and  with 
each  recurrent  need  she  added  a  little  to  her  small 
stock  of  wisdom.  Small  in  itself,  but  vast  in 
proportion  to  that  of  men  or  childless  women. 
Little  by  little  she  "  walked  her  hospital  " ;  little 
by  little  she  learnt  the  relative  value  of  her  simple 
potions,  to  whom  they  should  be  given,  and  how, 
and  when.     To  the  primitive  mind  this  was  cause 

47 


The  Book  of  Witches 

for  wonder,  as  indeed  it  is,  almost  as  wonderful 
as  the  first  smile  of  the  first  baby.  Pain  can  no 
longer  run  riot  unchecked.  If  it  have  not  yet 
found  its  mistress,  at  least  a  protest  has  been 
entered  against  it — reason  not  only  for  joy  and 
wonder,  but  for  respect  and  gratitude — even  per- 
haps for  worship. 

Whatever  his  divinity,  Man  worships  himself. 
In  every  form  of  religion  the  worshipped  tends 
to  become  confused  with  the  worshipper.  Man 
cannot  escape  his  own  environment.  The 
thunderstorm  frightens  him;  there  must  be  a 
storm-demon.  What  is  that  demon  but  another 
man  like  himself,  though  uglier  and  wickeder  and 
very  much  more  powerful  ?  Such  a  demon  must 
be  flattered  and  propitiated  as  an  angry  man  of 
might  must  be.  But  a  Primitive  with  his  living 
to  make  cannot  spare  the  time  necessary  to  pro- 
pitiate a  worldf  ul  of  demons.  He  deputes  the  duty 
to  a  weaker  neighbour,  one  who  sits  at  home, 
engaging  for  his  own  part  to  find  food  for  both. 
Whence  the  first  priestess — from  whom  later 
descends  the  first  priest.  For  who  so  apt  at  pro- 
pitiation as  she  who  can  cajole  that  most  domes- 
ticated of  demons,  the  ever-present  Pain.  So, 
later,  when  the  propitiation  of  Evil  gives  place  to 
the  invocation  of  good,  who  so  worthy  of  honour, 
which  is  to  say  of  worship,  as  she  who,  in  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  race,  first  relieved  poor  humanity  of 
its  bodily  ills?     Goddess,  priestess.  White  Witch 

48 


The  Origins  of  the   Witch 

and  Black — all  are  but  variations  on  that  oldest 
and  most  beautiful  of  themes,  Motherhood. 

To  return  to  the  first  house-wife.  Throughout 
her  life  she  adds  always  a  little  to  her  store  of 
natural  knowledge,  and  when  she  dies  she  be- 
queaths it  to  her  daughters.  They  in  turn  add  to 
it  until  the  time  comes  when  to  the  cure  of  bodies 
is  added  that  of  minds.  For  Man's  nascent  mind 
begins  to  trouble  him  almost  as  much  as  does  his 
body.  Already  the  eternal  problem  of  why  and 
wherefore  raises  its  head;  already  he  begins  his 
age-long  struggle  with  the  inevitable.  That  "  all 
that  is,  is  good  "  does  not  commend  itself  to  Pre- 
historic Man.  He  knows  so  much  better.  He 
must  often  go  hungry,  his  cattle  die,  drought 
destroys  his  meagre  crops,  his  neighbour  robs  him 
of  his  war-spoil.  He  appeals  to  the  woman,  who 
thinks  so  much,  for  a  way  out.  Cannot  she,  who 
with  her  potions  drove  the  pain  out  of  his  body, 
help  him  in  this  also?  Can  she  not  cure 
his  cattle?  Can  she  not  reason  with  the 
delinquent  rain-demon,  or,  by  making  a  little 
rain  herself,  move  him  to  emulation  ?  Best  of  all, 
can  she  not,  out  of  the  plenitude  of  her  wisdom, 
suggest  some  means  of  outwitting  that  treacherous 
neighbour?  He  will  reward  her  handsomely, 
especially  for  this  last. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  the  priestess  and  the 
witch  come  to  the  crossing  of  the  ways,  hence- 
forward   to    follow    divergent    paths.     The    one 

49  E 


The  Book  of  Witches 

sister,  from  whom  is  to  be  born  the  devout 
priestess,  is  ready  to  do  all  that  she  can.  She  in- 
vokes the  cattle-demon,  the  rain-demon ;  she,  no 
more  than  the  man,  has  any  doubt  of  their  invoca- 
bility,  but  if  they  refuse  to  answer  it  must  be 
because  they  are  angry.  She  cannot  make  it  rain 
if  the  demon  gainsay  her  prayer.  She  is  honest, 
acknowledging  her  inferiority  to  the  supernatural. 
Only  she  claims  to  understand  more  than  most 
the  best  way  to  approach  it. 

Consider  the  other  woman — the  ancestress  of 
the  witch,  in  the  opprobrious  sense.  She  knows 
very  well  that  she  cannot  make  rain.  Probably 
she  has  made  the  experiment  already.  But — such 
faith  in  her  power  is  tempting — so  are  the  gifts 
thus  easy  to  be  earned.  The  man  believes  in  her 
— almost  she  begins  to  believe  in  herself.  Per- 
haps she  tries  to  persuade  herself  that  she  may 
succeed  this  time.  She  is  weatherwise,  and  she 
reads  in  natural  signs  the  probability  that  rain  may 
shortly  be  expected.  If  it  should  not — well,  she 
must  take  precautions  against  incurring  blame. 
She  must  impose  conditions,  and  any  failure  jnust 
be  set  down  to  their  non-fulfilment.  There  is  a 
very  pleasant  sense  of  power  in  gulling  the  over- 
grown baby  who  is  so  ready  to  be  gulled.  She 
accepts  the  trust,  commands  the  rain-demon  to  let 
down  his  showers.  Her  reading  of  the  signs  is 
justified — the  expected  rain  comes.  Her  reputa- 
tion is  assured — until  belief  in  the  supernatural 

50 


The  Origins  of  the  Witch 

shall  be  no  more.  Her  daughter  and  her  grand- 
daughters inherit  her  claims.  They  also  com- 
mand the  storm,  using  the  same  form  of  words. 
Possibly  they  are  themselves  deceived — believing 
that  there  is  some  virtue  in  the  form  of  their 
mother's  words,  now  become  an  incantation. 
From  the  first  claim  to  power  over  the  elements, 
to  the  finished  sorceress,  and  thence  to  the 
"  horrid  old  witch  "  of  fairy  legend,  is  but  a 
matter  of  regular  evolution. 

Just  as  the  priestess  was  the  mother  of  the 
priest,  so  the  wizard  is  born  of  the  witch.  Man, 
though  he  start  later — very  much  as  the  boy 
is  slower  in  development  than  is  his  sister 
— is  not  content  always  to  remain  second  in  the 
race  for  knowledge.  For  a  time — perhaps  for 
long  centuries — he  has  been  content  to  leave 
things  intellectual  to  his  womenfolk.  But  when 
he  starts  he  is  not  content  to  stay  upon  the 
threshold  of  knowledge,  as  woman,  who  has  ap- 
proached it  only  from  necessity,  has  done.  One 
day  a  male  iconoclast  rebels,  pitting  his  awaken- 
ing intellect  against  the  woman's  inherited  reputa- 
tion. Victorious,  he  yet  trembles  at  his  victory, 
while  all  Palseolithia  awaits  the  angry  fire  from 
Heaven.  But  nothing  happens.  No  lightning 
strikes  him ;  no  swift  disease  destroys  him,  or  his 
children,  or  his  cattle.  A  new  era  has  begun — the 
wizard  places  himself  beside  the  witch,  slowly  but 
surely  to  elbow  her  into  the  second  place. 

51  E  2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

As  the  slow  centuries  pass   society  has  been 
SI  gradually    forming    and   shaping    itself.     In    his 

search  for  a  civilisation  Man  has  left  the  secluded 
cave  wherein  he  wrung  the  empire  of  the  world 
from  the  jaws  of  the  cave-bear  and  the  scythe- 
toothed  tiger.  He  has  built  himself  homes  and 
collected  them  into  villages;  from  the  scattered 
family  he  has  evolved  the  tribe,  and  from  the 
tribe  the  nation.  Having  learned  his  own  power 
when  buttressed  upon  that  of  his  neighbours,  he 
is  slowly  broadening  and  extending  it  until  it  is 
little  inferior  to  that  of  the  divinities  before  whom 
it  pleases  him  to  tremble.  He — or  Nature  for 
him — chooses  out  rulers,  who  become  his  gods  in 
all  but  divinity;  and  his  respect  for  them,  if  less 
absolute,  is  more  immediate  than  for  his  gods. 
Government,  making  all  things  possible,  becomes 
an  accomplished  fact. 

Government,  once  instituted,  loses  no  time  in 
measuring  itself  against  Heaven.  In  one  form 
or  other  the  conflict  between  Church  and  State 
— disguise  it  as  men  may — has  lasted  from  the 
beginning,  and  must  last  as  long  as  both  survive. 
That  ideal  which  reached  the  point  nearest  of 
attainment  in  the  theoretic  constitution  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  of  two  rulers,  co-existent 
and  co-equal,  governing  one  the  spiritual  and  one 
the  material  empire  of  the  world,  was  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  doomed  to  remain  an  ideal. 
Either  God  or  Man  must  be  first.      With  their 

52 


The  Origins  of  the  Witch 

struggles  for  the  mastery  the  fortunes  of  the 
witch,  as  of  all  exponents  of  the  supernatural, 
were  intimately  bound  up. 

At  first  sheltering  itself  beneath  the  wings  of 
the  spiritual  power,  the  material  flourished — at  its 
protector's  expense.  The  realm  of  Nature 
seemed  at  first  so  inconsiderable  compared  to 
that  of  the  supernatural,  that  he  were  a  bold 
iconoclast  who  dared  compare  them.  Only,  the 
King  was  always  in  the  midst  of  his  people;  the 
god,  century  by  century,  retreated  further  into 
the  unscaleable  skies.  Slowly  the  civil  power 
emancipated  itself  from  the  tutelage  of  the 
spiritual — as  it  is  still  doing  in  our  own  time — 
slowly  and  with  many  falterings  and  many  back- 
ward glances,  asserting  itself  in  prosperity,  ap- 
pealing for  help  in  adversity,  retreating  often,  but 
never  so  far  as  it  advanced. 

With  the  first  introduction  of  civil  government 
the  witch  and  the  priestess  finally  part  company, 
to  range  themselves  henceforward  upon  opposite 
sides.  It  is  true  that  as  religion  follows  religion 
the  priestess  of  the  former  era  often  becomes  the 
witch  of  its  successor,  thereby  only  accentuating 
the  distinction.  For,  in  the  unceasing  efforts  to 
arrange  a  modus  vivendi  between  the  human  and 
the  supernatural  worlds,  the  priestess  accommo- 
dates herself  to  circumstances — the  witch  defies 
them.  The  priestess,  acknowledging  her  own 
humanity,  claims  only  to  interpret  the  wishes  of 

53 


The   Book  of  Witches 

the  god,  to  intercede  with  him  on  behalf  of  her 
fellow-men.  The  witch,  staunch  Tory  of  the  old 
breed,  claims  to  be  divine,  in  so  far  as  she  exer- 
cises divine  power  unamenable  to  human  govern- 
ance, and  thus  singles  herself  out  as  one  apart, 
independent  of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers 
alike — and  as  such  an  object  of  fear  and  of  sus- 
picion. Even  so  she  is  still  respectable,  suspect 
indeed,  but  not  condemned.  The  public  attitude 
towards  her  is  variable;  she  is  alternately  en- 
couraged and  suppressed,  venerated  and  perse- 
cuted— and  through  all  she  flourishes,  now 
seductive  as  Circe,  now  hag-like  as  was  Hecate. 

Ages  pass,  empires  flourish  and  decay,  and 
slowly  a  great  change  is  coming  over  society. 
Unrest  is  in  the  air;  old  systems  and  old  creeds 
are  dying  of  inertia,  and  men  look  eagerly  for 
something  to  take  their  place.  The  spirit  of  in- 
dividual liberty  steals  round  the  world,  whispering 
in  all  men's  ears.  The  slave,  toiling  at  the  oar, 
hears  them,  though  he  dare  not  listen,  and  hugs 
them  in  his  heart — and  a  heresy,  threatening  the 
very  foundations  of  society,  spreads  far  and  wide. 
Is  it  just  possible  that  men  are  not  born  slave 
or  master  by  divine  decree  ? 

The  First  Socialist  is  born  in  the  East.  He 
and  His  disciples  preach  a  creed  so  blasphemous, 
so  incompatible  with  the  rights  of  property,  that 
it  becomes  a  sacred  duty,  if  vested  interests  are  to 
be  preserved,  to  crucify  Him  as  an  encouragement 

54 


The   Origins   of  the   Witch 

to  others.  He  proclaims,  in  a  word,  that  all  men 
are  equal.  It  is  well  for  Christianity  that  He  adds 
the  qualification,  "  In  the  sight  of  God,"  or  how 
could  either  slave  or  master  believe  in  anything 
so  contrary  to  the  senses'  evidence?  Vested 
interests  notwithstanding,  the  new  creed  spreads, 
as  any  creed  so  comforting  to  the  great  majority, 
the  downtrodden  and  oppressed,  is  bound  to 
spread.  But,  though  it  preached  the  acceptable 
doctrines  of  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity, 
Christianity  introduced  with  them  sin  into  the 
world.  All  men  might  be  equal  in  the  sight  of 
God,  but  they  were  all  equally  sinners.  Humility 
and  self-abasement  were  to  take  the  place  of  the 
old  pagan  joyousness.  To  the  Christian — to  the 
Early  Christian,  at  any  rate — the  world  ceased  to 
be  man's  inheritance,  as  Heaven  was  that  of  a 
congerie  of  shifting  divinities — an  inheritance  the 
enjoyment  of  which  was  as  blameless  as  it  was 
natural.  It  was  become  a  place  of  discipline  and 
education,  a  hard  school  designed  to  prepare  him 
for  a  glorious  future,  and  one  in  which  only  the 
elect  were  to  share.  Everything  that  did  not 
actively  help  towards  that  end  was  evil;  all  who 
did  not  work  towards  that  end  were  evil-doers. 
The  pagan  and  his  easy-going  paganism  were 
alike  accursed  and  tolerance  a  sin. 

The  contest  between  two  such  schools  of 
thought — however  long  drawn  out — could  have 
but  one  conclusion.     Capricious  persecutions,  on 

55 


The   Book  of  Witches 

civil  rather  than  religious  grounds,  gave  the  icono- 
clasts the  one  remaining  impetus  needed  to  snatch 
the  sceptre  of  the  world.  Successful,  they  per- 
secuted in  their  turn,  systematically  and  with  the 
thoroughness  born  of  conscious  virtue.  In  spite 
— or  because  of — such  attempts  to  stamp  out 
pagan  and  paganism  together,  the  old  order  still 
survived  in  secret  long  after  the  known  world 
was  officially  Christianised.  Naturally  enough, 
the  Christian  could  only  suppose  that  such 
criminal  persistence  was  the  direct  work  of  that 
Evil  One  whom  he  first  had  exploited.  Pagan 
rites  were  nothing  more  nor  less  to  him  than 
Devil  worship,  those  who  practised  them  the 
direct  representatives  of  Satan.  Some  of  the 
pagan  gods  had  been  pressed  into  the  service  of 
Christianity  as  saints,  their  festivals  as  saints' 
days.  Those  that  remained  were  classed  together, 
with  their  ministers  and  attributes,  under  the 
generic  heading  of  Magic,  shunned  and  feared 
at  first,  but  as  the  Church  more  and  more  stepped 
into  the  shoes  of  the  civil  power,  warred  upon 
without  mercy. 

Faced  by  such  forcible  arguments  for  conver- 
sion, the  Pagan  witch  was  not  long  in  adopting 
the  Christian  Devil  as  a  more  potent  protector 
than  the  old,  easy-going  gods  who  had  formerly 
peopled  the  supernatural  world.  Pagan  or 
nominal  Christian,  she  was  equally  anathema  to 
the  Church,  if  only  that  she  was  consistently  Pro- 

56 


The  Origins  of  the  Witch 

testant,  claiming  to  hold  direct  communication 
with  the  Unseen  quite  regardless  of  the  proper 
ecclesiastical  channels.  And  by  this  very  inde- 
pendence her  hold  upon  the  imagination  of  her 
neighbours  continued  to  increase  as  Christianity 
progressed  towards  universal  empire.  The  very 
definite  pronouncements  of  the  Church  against 
witches,  witchcraft,  and  all  kinds  of  magic  served 
to  foster  the  general  belief  in  their  powers.  What 
was  so  forcibly  condemned  must  of  necessity  exist. 
There  was,  moreover,  a  certain  satisfaction  in  this 
same  tangibility.  It  simplified,  smoothed  out  the 
path  of  virtue.  With  witchcraft  about,  your  duty 
was  plain  and  your  task  easy.  You  had  but 
to  mention  a  holy  name,  to  make  a  sacred  sign, 
to  sprinkle  a  little  holy  water,  and  victory  was 
assured.  If  all  assaults  of  the  devil  were  so 
straightforward  and  so  vincible,  the  path  to 
Heaven  were  broad  and  smooth  indeed. 

It  was,  perhaps,  the  popular  sense  of  victorious 
ability  against  her  spells  which  protected  the 
witch,  fer  se,  against  over-severe  persecution 
until  towards  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries. 
Absolute  confidence  in  the  power  to  suppress  an 
evil  diminishes  the  urgency  for  its  suppression. 
Here  and  there  a  witch  was  executed,  local  per- 
secutions of  inconsiderable  extent  occurred,  but  for 
general  holocausts  we  must  wait  until  the  more 
enlightened  times  of  a  James  I.  or  a  Louis  XIV. 
The  witch  of  the  Dark  Ages  might  count  upon 

57 


The   Book  of  Witches 

a  life  of  comparative  security,  sweetened  by  the 
offerings  of  those  who,  pining  for  present  joys, 
acted  upon  the  advice  of  Omar  Khayyam  rather 
than  following  that  of  their  ghostly  advisers. 
Meanwhile,  however,  a  mass  of  tradition  and  pre- 
cedent was  growing  up,  to  be  put  to  deadly  pur- 
pose in  the  animadversions  of  learned  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  century  writers  upon  the  vile  and 
damnable  sin  of  witchcraft. 

By  the  eleventh  century  the  witch  was  firmly 
identified,  in  the  popular  as  well  as  the  ecclesias- 
tical mind,  as  a  woman  who  had  entered  upon  a 
compact  with  Satan  for  the  overthrowing  of 
Christ's  kingdom.  The  popular  conception  of 
her  personality  had  also  undergone  a  change.  By 
the  twelfth  century  there  was  no  more  question 
of  her  as  a  fair  enchantress — she  was  grown  older 
and  uglier,  poorer  and  meaner,  showing  none  of 
the  advantages  her  compact  with  the  Evil  One 
might  have  been  expected  to  bring  in  its  train. 

The  increasing  tendency  towards  dabbling  in 
things  forbidden  brought  about  greater  severity 
in  its  repression,  but  it  was  not  until  the  days  of 
Innocent  VI IL,  when  witchcraft  was  officially 
identified  with  heresy,  that  the  period  of  cruel 
persecution  may  be  said  really  to  have  begun. 
Sorcery  in  itself  was  bad  enough ;  associated  with 
heresy  no  crime  was  so  pernicious  and  no  punish- 
ment too  condign,  especially  when  inflicted  by  the 
Holy  Inquisition.      The  inquisitorial  power  was 

58 


The  Origins  of  the  Witch 

frequently  misused ;  the  fact  that  the  possessions 
of  the  accused  became  forfeit  to  her  judges  when 
tried  in  an  ecclesiastical  court  may  seem  to  the 
sceptic  to  provide  ample  reason  why  the  ecclesias- 
tical authorities  undertook  so  many  more  prosecu- 
tions than  did  the  civil.  But  of  the  absolute 
sincerity  with  which  all  classes  set  themselves  to 
stamp  out  so  dreadful  a  crime,  the  portentous  and 
voluminous  writings  of  the  period  leave  no  doubt 
whatever.  Catholic  and,  after  the  Reformation, 
Protestant,  rich  and  poor,  patriot  and  philan- 
thropist alike,  vied  with  each  other  in  the  en- 
thusiasm with  which  they  scented  out  their  prey, 
and  the  pious  satisfaction  with  which  they  tortured 
helpless  old  women  to  the  last  extremity  in  the 
name  of  the  All-Merciful. 

From  the  fourteenth  century  onwards  the  type 
of  recognised  witch  varies  only  in  detail.  Though 
not  invariably  she  is  commonly  the  conventional 
hag.  If  young,  she  has  been  led  astray  by  a 
senior,  or  taken  to  the  Sabbath  in  childhood  under 
constraint — which  was  not,  however,  regarded  as 
a  valid  defence  in  time  of  trial.  Many  such  were 
executed  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, in  many  cases  mere  children.  But  it  was 
the  toothless  hag  whose  mumblings  held  the 
public  ear  and  became  acknowledged  as  the 
truest  type.  Even  when  men  ceased  to  fear  her 
she  lost  nothing  of  her  grotesque  hideousness  to 
the  childish  mind,  and  as  such  has  become  finally 

59 


The   Book  of  Witches 

enshrined  in  the  nursery  lore  of  Europe.  As 
such,  also,  I  have  endeavoured  to  reconstruct  her 
in  her  habit  as  she  lived  in  the  eyes  of  her 
mediaeval  contemporaries  elsewhere  in  this 
volume. 


60 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    HALF-WAY   WORLDS. 

Having  decided,  very  early  in  his  earthly  career, 
to  acknowledge  a  supernatural  world,  Man 
promptly  set  to  work  to  people  it  after  his  own 
image.  One  not  providing  scope  for  his  quicken- 
ing imagination,  he  added  another  to  it,  supple- 
menting the  heavenly  by  the  infernal,  good  by 
evil — if,  indeed,  as  is  more  probable,  he  did  not 
rather  deduce  good  out  of  evil.  But  just  as  there 
are  many  stages  between  high  noon  and  midnight, 
so  to  the  world  he  saw  and  those  he  imagined 
he  added  yet  others  which  should  act  as  their 
connecting  links.  Between  the  divine  and  the 
human  he  placed  the  semi-divine,  between  the 
human  and  the  infernal  the  half-human.  He 
mated  God  with  Man  and  both  with  Devil,  and 
dowered  them  with  a  numerous  family,  God-Man, 
Man-Devil,  God-Devil,  and  so  on,  until  the  possi- 
bilities of  his  earlier  imagination  were  exhausted. 
Each  has  his  own  world — and  the  stars  cannot 
rival  them  in  number;    each  world  has  its  cities 

6i 


The   Book  of  Witches 

and  its  nations,  differing  in  all  things  save  one — 
that  all  alike  feel,  act,  think,  after  the  manner 
of  mankind.  So  is  it,  again,  with  the  other  uni- 
verse of  half-way  worlds,  filling  the  space 
between  the  human  and  the  bestial — centaur, 
satyr,  were-wolf,  or  mermaid,  all  alike  reflect  the 
human  imagination  that  has  evolved  them — to 
nondescript  bodies  they  unite  the  reflected  mind 
of  man. 

Conforming  to  the  general  rule,  the  witch  is 
but  one  dweller  in  a  half-way  world  that  is  thickly 
populated  and  in  itself  forms  one  of  an  intricate 
star-group.  Externally  at  least,  its  orbit  nearly 
coincides  with  that  of  our  human  world,  in  that 
its  inhabitants  are  for  the  most  part  of  human 
origins  acquiring  those  attributes  which  raise  them 
above — or  degrade  them  below — the  commonalty 
subsequently  to  their  birth.  This  not  invariably — 
nothing  is  invariable  to  the  imagination.  Thus 
the  fairies,  although  not  human  beings,  may  yet 
be  witches — demons  also,  unless  many  grave  and 
reverend  authorities  lie.  Under  certain  conditions 
they  may  even  become  human  beings,  as  mer- 
maids may — many  a  man  has  married  a  fairy  wife 
— and  it  is  an  open  question  whether  they  have 
altogether  lost  their  hope  of  Heaven,  as  witches 
invariably  have.  As  witches,  they  must  be  re- 
garded as  belonging  to  the  White,  or  beneficent, 
type ;  for  although,  as  Mercutio  has  told  us,  they 
may  sometimes  play  unkind  pranks  upon  the  idle 

62 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

or  undeserving,  they  have  always  a  kindly  eye  fof 
the  virtuous,  and  frequently  devote  themselves 
altogether  to  good  works,  as  in  the  case  of  Lob- 
lie-by-the-Fire,  and  others  equally  difficult  to  cata- 
logue. For  the  more  we  investigate  the  various 
orbits  of  the  half-way  worlds,  the  more  do  we 
find  them  inextricably  interwoven.  The  Western 
Fairy  or  Oriental  Djinn  may  partake  of  half-a- 
hundred  different  natures — may  pervade  half  the 
imaginative  universe — and  as  does  the  Fairy,  so 
does  the  Witch.  Hecate,  a  goddess,  was  yet  no 
less  notorious  a  witch  than  was  Mother  Shipton, 
a  human  being  of  no  elevated  rank.  The  were- 
wolf, though  usually  of  human  parentage,  might 
yet  have  been  born  a  wolf  and  obtained  the  power 
of  taking  human  shape  from  some  subsequent 
external  cause.  The  Beast  in  the  fairy  story, 
though  at  heart  a  youthful  Prince  of  considerable 
attractions,  once  transmogrified  might  have  re- 
mained a  Beast  for  good  and  all  but  for  his 
fortunate  encounter  with  Beauty's  father.  Who 
shall  say  exactly  in  which  world  to  place,  how  to 
class  beyond  possibility  of  confusion,  Circe — 
witch,  goddess,  and  woman,  and  the  men  she 
turned  to  swine — or  the  fairies  and  mermaids  who 
have,  usually  for  love,  divested  themselves  of  their 
extra-human  attributes  and  become  more  or  less 
permanently  women — or  those  human  children 
who,  stolen  by  the  fairies,  have  become  fairies 
for  good  and  all — or  how  distinguish  between  all 

63 


The   Book  of  Witches 

of  these  and  the  ladies  with  romantic  names  and 
uncertain  aspirates  who  deal  out  destinies  in 
modern  Bond  Street. 

Even  if  we  agree  to  confine  the  witch  to  the 
narrowest  limits,  to  regard  her,  that  is  to  say,  as 
primarily  a  human  being  and  only  incidentally 
possessed  of  superhuman  powers  and  attributes, 
there  still  remain  many  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
exact  classification.  Her  powers  are  varied,  and 
by  no  means  always  common  to  every  individual. 
Or,  again,  she  has  the  power  to  turn  herself 
corporeally  into  a  wolf  or  a  cat — which  brings  her 
into  line  with  the  were-wolf,  just  as  the  cat  or 
wolf  may  under  certain  circumstances  transform 
themselves,  permanently  or  otherwise,  into  a 
human  witch.  She  may  acquire  the  mind  of  a 
wolf  without  its  body;  on  the  other  hand,  many 
a  beautiful  princess  has  been  transformed  into  a 
white  doe  by  witchcraft.  So  with  her  male 
colleagues — sorcerer,  magician,  wizard,  warlock, 
male-witch,  diviner,  and  the  rest  of  the  great 
family.  We  may  reach  firm  ground  by  agreeing 
to  recognise  only  such  as  are  of  human  origin, 
though  by  so  doing  we  rule  out  many  of  the  most 
eminent — the  great  Merlin  himself  among  them. 
But  even  so,  it  is  impossible  to  dogmatise  as  to 
where  the  one  begins,  the  other  ends.  There 
have  been  many  male-witches — more  particularly 
in  Scotland — as  distinguished  from  wizards. 
Wizard  and  warlock  again,  if  it  be  safe  to  regard 

64 


The    Half-way    Worlds 

them  as  distinct  species,  though  differing  from 
magician  and  sorcerer,  are  yet  very  difficult  of 
disentanglement.  The  position  is  complicated  by 
the  fact  that,  just  as  a  man  may  be  clerk,  singer, 
cricketer,  forger,  philanthropist,  and  stamp-col- 
lector at  one  and  the  same  time,  so  might  one 
professor  of  the  Black  Art  take  half  a  dozen 
shapes  at  the  same  time  or  spread  over  his 
career. 

There  is  indeed  but  one  pinnacle  of  solid  rock 
jutting  out  from  the  great  quagmire  of  shifting 
uncertainty — witch,  wizard,  were-wolf,  or  whatso- 
ever their  sub-division — one  and  all  unite  in  one 
great  certainty :  that  of  inevitable  damnation. 
Whatever  their  form,  however  divergent  their 
powers,  to  that  one  conclusion  they  must  come 
at  last.  And  thus,  and  only  thus,  we  may  know 
them — posthumously. 

It  is  true  that  certain  arbitrary  lines  may  be 
drawn  to  localise  the  witch  proper,  even  though 
the  rules  be  chiefly  made  up  of  exceptions.  Thus 
she  is,  for  the  most  part,  feminine.  The  Scots 
male-witch,  and  those  elsewhere  occurrent  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  might  as 
correctly  be  termed  wizards  or  warlocks,  for  any 
absolute  proof  to  the  contrary.  The  witch,  again, 
has  seldom  risen  to  such  heights  in  the  profession 
as  have  her  male  competitors.  The  magician 
belongs,  as  we  have  seen,  to  a  later  stage  of 
human  development  than  does  the  witch,  but,  once 

65  F 


The  Book  of  Witches 

evolved,  he  soon  left  her  far  behind;  it  is  true 
that  he  was  able  to  avail  himself  of  the  store  of 
knowledge  by  her  so  slowly  and  painfully 
acquired.  With  its  aid  he  soon  raised  himself  to 
the  highest  rank  in  the  profession — approaching 
it  from  the  scientific  standpoint,  and  leaving  her 
to  muddle  along  empirically  and  by  rule  of 
thumb.  Nor  was  he  content  until  he  had  made 
himself  master  of  the  Devil — using  Satan  and  all 
his  imps  for  his  own  private  ends — while  the  less 
enterprising  witch  never  rose  to  be  more  than  the 
Devil's  servant,  or  at  best  his  humble  partner  in 
ill-doing. 

The  Magician,  whatsoever  his  own  private 
failings,  has  certainly  deserved  well  of  posterity. 
Just  as  the  quack  and  the  Bond  Street  sybil  are 
representatives  of  the  witch  in  the  direct  line,  so, 
from  the  alchemist  and  the  sorcerer  are  descended 
the  great  scientists  of  our  own  day — an  impious 
brood  indeed,  who  deny  that  their  own  father  was 
aught  but  an  impostor  and  a  charlatan.  The  pro- 
prietor of,  let  us  say,  "  Dr.  Parabole's  Pellets,"  is 
own  brother — illegitimate  though  he  be — to  the 
discoverer  of  the  Rontgen  ray.  The  researches 
of  the  old-time  sorcerer  into  the  Forbidden,  what- 
ever their  immediate  profit,  at  least  pointed  out 
the  direction  for  more  profitable  researches.  Mer- 
lin, Cornelius  Agrippa,  or  Albertus  Magnus,  had 
they  been  born  in  our  day,  would  certainly  have 
achieved  the  Fellowship  of  the  Royal  Society— 

66 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

and  with  good  reason.  It  is  to  the  search  after 
the  philosopher's  stone  and  the  eUxir  vitae  that 
we  owe  the  discovery  of  radium.  It  was  only  by 
calling  in  the  aid  of  the  Devil  that  mankind  ac- 
quired the  prescience  of  a  God. 

The  witch  proper,  on  the  other  hand,  did  not 
trouble  herself  with  research  work.  Having 
attained  that  dominion  over  her  fellows  dear  to 
the  heart  of  woman,  she  was  content  to  rest  upon 
her  laurels.  Certain  incantations  or  charms, 
learned  by  rote,  the  understanding  of  the  effect 
and  cure  of  certain  poisons — these  were  sufficient 
stock-in-trade  to  convince  her  neighbours,  and 
perhaps  herself.  Doubtless  Dr.  Parabole,  how- 
ever aware  in  the  beginning  of  the  worthlessness 
of  his  own  pills,  comes  after  years  of  strenuous 
advertising  to  believe  in  them.  He  may  stop 
short  of  taking  them  himself — at  least  he  will 
prescribe  them  to  his  dearest  friend  in  absolute 
good  faith.  So  with  the  witch,  his  grandmother. 
Many,  no  doubt,  of  the  millions  offered  up  as 
sacrifice  to  the  All-Merciful,  were  guiltless  even 
in  intention;  many  more  allowed  themselves  to 
be  convinced  of  their  own  sinfulness  by  the  sus- 
picions of  their  neighbours  or  the  strenuous 
arguments  of  their  judge-persecutors;  many  were 
hysterical,  epileptic,  or  insane.  But  the  larger 
proportion,  it  is  scarcely  too  much  to  say,  only 
lacked  the  power  while  cherishing  the  intention — 
witches  they  were  in  everything  but  witchcraft. 

67  F  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

We  thus  may  briefly  state  the  difference 
between  the  witch  and  the  magician  as  that  the 
one  professed  powers  in  which  she  might  herself 
beHeve  or  not  beUeve,  inherited  or  received  by 
her,  and  by  her  passed  on  to  her  successors  with- 
out any  attempt  to  augment  them.  The  magician, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  actually  a  student  of  the 
mysteries  he  professed,  and  thus,  if  we  leave  aside 
his  professional  hocus-pocus  devilry,  cannot  be 
considered  as  altogether  an  impostor.  With  the 
alchemist  and  the  astrologer,  more  often  than  not 
combining  the  three  characters  in  his  one  person, 
he  stands  at  the  head  of  the  profession  of  which 
the  witch — male  or  female — brings  up  the  rear. 
Another  distinction  is  drawn  by  sixteenth-century 
authorities  between  witches  and  conjurers  on  the 
one  side,  and  sorcerers  and  enchanters  on  the 
other — in  that  while  the  two  first-mentioned  have 
personal  relations  with  the  Devil,  their  colleagues 
deal  only  in  medicines  and  charms,  without,  of 
necessity,  calling  up  apparitions  at  all.  It  is  to 
be  noted  in  this  connection  that  the  sorcerer  often 
leads  Devil  and  devilkin  by  the  nose,  in  more 
senses  than  one — devils  having  extremely  delicate 
noses,  and  being  thus  easily  soothed  and  enticed 
by  fumigations,  a  peculiarity  of  which  every  com- 
petent sorcerer  avails  himself.  Thus,  Saint 
Dunstan,  and  those  other  saints  of  whom  it  is 
recorded  that  they  literally  led  the  Devil  by  the 
nose,  using  red-hot  pincers  for  the  purpose,  were 

68 


The    Half-way  Worlds 

but  following  the  path  pointed  out  for  them  by 
professors  of  the  Art  Magical. 

Between  the  witch  and  the  conjurer  a  wide  gulf 
is  fixed.  The  conjurer  coerces  the  Devil,  against 
his  infernal  will,  by  prayers  and  the  invocation 
of  God's  Holy  Name;  the  witch  concludes  with 
him  a  business  agreement,  bartering  her  body, 
soul,  and  obedience  for  certain  more  or  less 
illusory  promises.  The  conjurer  is  almost  in- 
variably beneficent,  the  witch  usually  malignant, 
though  the  White  Witch  exercises  her  powers 
only  for  good,  if  sometimes  with  a  certain  mis- 
chievousness,  while  the  Grey  Witch  does  good 
or  evil  as  the  fancy  takes  her,  with  a  certain  bias 
towards  evil.  The  wizard,  again,  though  often 
confused  with  the  male-witch,  is  in  reality  a 
practitioner  of  great  distinction,  possessing  super- 
natural powers  of  his  own  attaining,  and,  like  the 
magician,  constraining  the  Devil  rather  than 
serving  him.  He  also  is  capable  of  useful 
public  service,  so  much  so  indeed  that  Melton,  in 
his  "  Astrologastra,"  published  in  1620,  includes 
what  may  pass  as  a  Post  Office  Directory  of  the 
wizards  of  London.  He  enumerates  six  of 
importance,  some  by  name,  as  Dr.  Forman 
or  "  Young  Master  Olive  in  Turnbull  Street,'' 
others  by  vaguer  designations,  as  "  the  cunning 
man  of  the  Bankside  "  or  "  the  chirurgeon  with 
the  bag-pipe  cheek."  He  includes  one  woman 
in  the  list,  probably  a  White  Witch. 

69 


The   Book  of  Witches 

The  Diviners,  or  peerers  into  the  future,  form 
yet  another  sub-section  of  dabblers  in  the  super- 
natural— and  one  which  numbers  very  many 
practitioners  even  in  our  own  day.  Naturally 
enough,  seeing  that  the  desire  to  influence  the 
future  is  the  obvious  corollary  to  that  of  knowing 
it,  the  part  of  diviner  was  more  often  than  not 
doubled  with  that  of  witch  or  sorcerer.  Divina- 
tion is  an  art  of  the  most  complicated,  boasting 
almost  as  many  branches  as  medicine  itself,  each 
with  its  select  band  of  practitioners.  Different 
nations,  again,  favoured  different  methods  of 
divining — thus  the  Hebrews  placed  most  con- 
fidence in  Urim  and  Thummim;  the  Greeks  were 
famous  for  axinomancy,  the  machinery  for  which 
consisted  of  an  axe  poised  upon  a  slate  or  other- 
wise handled.  This  method  was  as  apt  for 
present  as  for  future  needs,  being  especially 
potent  in  the  discovery  of  criminals.  Crime 
detection  by  divination  has  been — and  remains — 
greatly  favoured  in  the  East.  The  Hindus,  in 
particular,  place  greater  reliance  upon  it  than 
upon  the  more  usual  methods  of  our  Occidental 
police,  and  many  stories  are  told  of  the  successes 
achieved  by  their  practitioners.  Nor  is  this  sur- 
prising in  cases  where  the  diviner  shows  such 
shrewd  knowledge  of  human  nature  as  in  that,  oft- 
quoted,  whereby  all  those  under  suspicion  of  a 
theft  are  ranged  in  a  row  and  presented  with 
mouthfuls  of  grain,  with  the  assurance  that  the 

70 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

guilty  man  alone  will  be  unable  to  swallow  it — a 
phenomenon  which  nearly  always  does  occur  if 
the  thief  be  among  those  present — and  not  infre- 
quently when  he  is  not !  This  and  similar  stories, 
though  scarcely  falling  under  the  heading  of 
divination  proper,  are  so  far  pertinent  to  the  sub- 
ject that  they  suggest  the  explanation  of  many 
of  its  more  remarkable  successes.  Tell  a  nervous 
man  that  he  is  destined  to  commit  suicide  upon  a 
certain  day,  and,  granted  that  he  has  any  faith  in 
your  prophetic  powers,  the  odds  are  that  he  will 
prove  the  correctness  of  your  prophecy.  We 
may  compare  with  this  the  powerful  influence  of 
"  tapu  "  upon  the  South  Sea  Island  mind. 
Many  natives  have  died — as  has  been  vouched 
for  by  hundreds  of  credit-worthy  witnesses — for 
no  more  tangible  reason  than  fear  at  having  in- 
curred the  curse  of  desecrating  something  placed 
under  its  protection.  It  may  be  added  that  the 
Islanders,  observing  that  white  men  do  not  suffer 
the  same  fate,  account  for  it  by  declaring  that 
the  White  Man's  Gods,  being  of  a  different  per- 
suasion from  their  own,  protect  their  own  votaries. 
Divination  proper  takes  almost  innumerable 
forms.  Without  entering  too  closely  upon  a 
wide  subject,  a  few  examples  may  be  profitably 
quoted.  Among  the  best  known  are  Belomancy, 
or  divination  by  the  flight  of  arrows,  a  form  much 
favoured  by  the  Arabs;  Bibliomancy  (of  which 
the    "  Sortes   Virgilianse  "   is   the   most   familiar 

71 


The  Book  of  Witches 

example) ;  Oneiromancy  (or  divination  by  dreams, 
honoured  by  Archbishop  Laud  and  Lord  Bacon 
among  others) ;  Rhabdomancy  (by  rods  or  wands. 
The  "  dowser,"  or  water-finder,  whose  exploits 
have  aroused  so  much  attention  of  recent  years, 
is  obviously  akin  to  the  Rhabdomancist).  Cry- 
stallomancy,  or  crystal-gazing,  was  first  popu- 
larised in  this  country  by  the  notorious  Dr.  Dee, 
and  still  finds  many  votaries  in  Bond  Street  and 
elsewhere.  Hydromancy,  or  divination  by 
water,  is  another  variety  much  favoured  by  the 
Bond  Street  sybil,  a  pool  of  ink  sometimes 
taking  the  place  of  the  water.  Cheiromancy,  or 
Palmistry,  most  popular  of  any,  may  possess  some 
claim  to  respect  in  its  least  ambitious  form  as  a 
means  towards  character  reading.  Divination 
by  playing-cards,  another  popular  method,  is, 
needless  to  say,  of  later,  mediaeval  origin.  The 
Roman  augurs,  who,  as  every  schoolboy  knows, 
deduced  the  future  from  the  flight  of  birds,  pro- 
vide yet  another  example  of  this  universal  pas- 
time, perhaps  the  least  harmful  sub-section  of  the 
Black  Arts. 

Among  the  most  brilliant  luminaries  of  the 
half-way  worlds  are  those  twin-stars  inhabited  by 
the  Alchemist  and  the  Astrologer.  The  pseudo- 
science  of  star-reading  may  be  supposed  to  date 
from  the  first  nightfall — and  may  thus  claim  a 
pedigree  even  older,  if  only  by  a  few  months  or 
years,    than    that    of    Magic    proper.     Alchemy, 

72 


The    Half-way  Worlds 

despite  its  Moorish  name,  has  a  scarcely  less 
extended  history.  It  owes  its  birth — traditionally, 
at  any  rate — to  the  same  Egyptian  Man- God  who 
first  introduced  witchcraft  and  magic  in  their 
regularised  forms  to  an  expectant  world.  Its 
principles  having  been  by  him  engraved  in  Punic 
characters  upon  an  emerald,  were  discovered  in 
his  tomb  by  no  less  a  person  than  Alexander  the 
Great.  It  should  perhaps  be  added  that  doubts 
have  been  cast  upon  this  resurrection.  However 
that  may  be,  it  was  much  practised  by  the  later 
Greeks  in  Constantinople  from  the  fifth  century 
A.D.  until  the  Moslem  conquest  of  the  city.  From 
them  the  Arabs  adopted  it,  gave  it  the  name  by 
which  it  has  ever  since  been  known,  and  became 
the  most  successful  of  its  practitioners. 

To  attempt  any  close  study  of  the  great 
alchemists  were  foreign  to  my  present  purpose, 
and  would  entail  more  space  than  is  at  my  dis- 
posal. At  the  same  time,  so  close  was  their 
connection,  in  the  eyes  of  the  vulgar,  so  intimate 
their  actual  relationship  with  witchcraft,  that  it  is 
impossible  altogether  to  ignore  them.  What  is 
more,  they  lend  to  the  witch  a  reflected  respect- 
ability such  as  she  can  by  no  means  afford 
to  forgo.  They  held,  in  fact,  in  their  own  day, 
much  the  same  position  as  do  the  great  inventors 
and  scientists  of  to-day.  Mr.  Edison  and  Mr. 
Marconi,  had  they  been  born  ten  centuries  since, 
would    certainly    have    taken    exalted    rank    as 

73 


The   Book  of  Witches 

alchemists  or  magicians.  As  it  is,  in  ten  cen- 
turies a  whole  world  of  magical  romance  will  have 
been  very  likely  woven  about  their  names,  even 
if  they  have  not  been  actually  exalted  to  divinity 
or  inextricably  confused  with  Lucifer  and  Prome- 
theus. While  some  of  their  predecessors  may 
have  actually  claimed  power  over  the  supernatural 
— either  in  self-deception  or  for  self-aggrandise- 
ment— the  great  majority  undoubtedly  had  such 
claims  thrust  upon  them,  either  by  their  contem- 
poraries or  by  posterity,  and  would  have  them- 
selves claimed  nothing  higher  than  to  be  con- 
sidered students  of  the  unknown.  The  Philoso- 
pher's Stone  and  the  Elixir  Vitse  may  have  served 
indeed  as  the  ideal  goal  of  their  researches, 
much  as  they  do  under  their  modern  form  of  the 
Secret  of  Life  in  our  own  time ;  but  their  actual 
discoveries,  accidental  and  incidental  though  they 
may  have  been,  were  none  the  less  valuable. 
After  such  a  lapse  of  time  it  is  as  difficult  to 
draw  the  line  between  the  alchemist-scientist  and 
the  charlatan  as  it  will  be  a  century  hence  to  dis- 
tinguish the  false  from  the  true  among  the 
"  inventors  "  and  "  scientists  "  of  to-day,  so 
absolutely  do  the  mists  of  tradition  obscure  the 
face  of  history.  Leaving  out  of  the  question 
such  purely  legendary  figures  as  Merlin,  we  may 
class  them  under  three  headings,  and  briefly  con- 
sider one  example  under  each.  In  the  first  may 
be  placed  the  more  or  less  mythical  figures  of 

74 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

Gebir  and  Albertus  Magnus,  both  of  whom,  so 
far  as  it  is  now  possible  to  judge,  owe  their 
ambiguous  reputations  entirely  to  the  superstitions 
of  their  posterity. 

Such  a  personage  as  the  great  Arabian  physician 
Gebir,  otherwise  Abou  Moussah  Djafar,  surnamed 
Al  Sofi,  or  the  Wise,  living  in  the  eighth  century, 
was  certain  to  gain  the  reputation  of  possessing 
supernatural  power,  even  had  he  not  busied  him- 
self in  the  discovery  of  the  Philosopher's  Stone 
and  the  Elixir.  Though  he  found  neither, 
he  yet  in  seeking  them  made  other  discoveries 
little  less  valuable,  and  it  is  scarcely  too  much 
to  say,  made  their  discovery  possible  in  later 
centuries.  Thus,  in  default  of  the  means  of 
making  gold,  he  gave  us  such  useful  chemicals 
as  nitric  acid,  nitrate  of  silver,  and  oxide  of 
copper.  Incidentally  he  wrote  several  hundred 
treatises  on  his  two  "  subjects,''  an  English  trans- 
lation of  one,  the  "  Summae  Perfectionis,"  having 
been  published  in  1686  by  Richard  Russell,  him- 
self an  alchemist  of  respectable  attainments. 

Albertus  Magnus,  again,  gave  every  excuse  to 
the  vulgar  for  regarding  him  as  infernally 
inspired.  That  is  to  say,  he  was  a  scholar  of 
great  attainments  in  a  day  when  scholars  were 
chiefly  remarkable  for  their  dense  ignorance,  and 
fully  deserved  some  less  ambiguous  sobriquet 
than  that  bestowed  upon  him  by  some  writers  of 
"  Founder  of  the  Schoolmen."      A  Dominican, 

75 


The  Book  of  Witches 

he  held  the  chair  of  Theology  at  Padua  in  1222 
while  still  a  young  man.  Grown  weary  of  a 
sedentary  life,  he  resigned  his  professorship  and 
taught  in  many  of  the  chief  European  cities,  and 
more  particularly  in  Paris,  where  he  lived  for 
three  years  in  company  with  his  illustrious  pupil, 
Thomas  Aquinas.  He  was  at  one  time  appointed 
Bishop  of  Regensburg,  but  very  soon  resigned, 
finding  his  episcopal  duties  interfere  with  his 
studies.  Of  the  twenty-five  folios  from  his  pen, 
one  is  devoted  to  alchemy,  and  he  was  a  magician 
of  the  first  class — so,  at  least,  succeeding  genera- 
tions averred,  though  he  himself  very  likely  had 
no  suspicions  thereof.  Among  other  of  his  pos- 
sessions was  a  brazen  statue  with  the  gift  of 
speech,  a  gift  exercised  with  such  assiduity  as  to 
exhaust  the  patience  even  of  the  saintly  Thomas 
Aquinas  himself,  so  that  he  was  constrained  to 
shatter  it  to  pieces. 

Roger  Bacon,  inventor  and  owner  of  an  even 
more  famous  brazen  head,  was  no  less  illustrious 
a  scholar,  and  as  fully  deserved  his  admiring 
nickname  "  The  Admirable  Doctor,"  even  though 
he  were  not  in  actual  fact  the  inventor  of  gun- 
powder and  the  telescope,  as  asserted  by  his 
admirers.  A  native  of  Somerset,  and  born,  tradi- 
tionally, the  year  before  the  signing  of  Magna 
Charta,  he  might  have  ranked  among  the  greatest 
Englishmen  had  not  his  reputation  as  a  magician 
given  him  the  suggestion  of  being  a  myth  alto- 

76 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

gether.     Something  of  a  heretic  he  was,  although 
in  orders,  and  his  writings  brought  down  upon 
him  the  suspicions  of  the  General  of  the  Fran- 
ciscan   Order,    to    which    he    belonged.     Pope 
Clement  IV.   extended  protection  to  him  for  a 
time,  even  to  the  extent  of  studying  his  works, 
and  more  particularly  his  "  Magnum  Opus,"  but 
later    the    Franciscan    General    condemned    his 
writings,  and  he  spent  fourteen  years  in  prison, 
being  released  only  two  years  before  his  death. 
But  his  historical  achievements  were  as  nothing  to 
his    legendary    possession,    in    partnership    with 
Friar  Bungay,  of  the  Talking  Head.     Less  gar- 
rulous   than    Albertus'    statue,    it    emitted    only 
three  sentences  :    "  Time  is.     Time  was.     Time 
is  past.''   Its  last  dictum,  having  unfortunately  for 
all  audience  a  fooHsh  servant,  and  being  by  him 
held  up  to  ridicule,  it  fell  to  the  ground  and  was 
smashed  to  pieces,  thus  depriving  its  inventor  of 
his   cherished   scheme — by  its  help   to  surround 
England   with    a   brazen    rampart   no   whit    less 
efficacious    against    the    assaults    of    the    King's 
enemies  than  are  our  present-day  ironclads. 

Friar  Bacon  was  not  undeserving  of  the  post- 
humous popularity  he  achieved  in  song  and  story, 
for  he  it  was  who  made  magic  and  alchemy  really 
popular  pursuits  in  this  country.  So  numerous 
were  his  imitators  that  rather  more  than  a  century 
after  his  death — in  1434 — the  alchemical  manu- 
facture of  gold  and  silver  was  declared  a  felony. 

77 


The   Book  of  Witches 

Twenty-one  years  later  Henry  VI.,  being,  as  he 
usually  was,  in  urgent  need  of  ready  money,  saw 
reason  to  modify  the  Governmental  attitude,  and 
granted  a  number  of  patents — to  ecclesiastics  as 
well  as  laymen — for  seeking  after  the  Philo- 
sopher's Stone,  with  the  declared  purpose  of 
paying  the  Royal  debts  out  of  the  proceeds.  In 
which  design  he  was,  it  is  to  be  feared,  dis- 
appointed. 

Dr.  Dee,  the  friend  and  gossip  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  may  be  taken  as  marking  the  point  at 
which  the  alchemist  ceases  to  be  an  inhabitant  of 
any  half-way  world  and  becomes  altogether 
human.  A  Londoner  by  birth,  he  was  born  in 
1527,  became  a  B.A.  of  Cambridge  University 
and  Rector  of  Upton-upon-Severn.  His  ec- 
clesiastical duties  could  not  contain  his  energies, 
and  so  well  versed  did  he  become  in  arts  magical 
that,  upon  a  waxen  effigy  of  Queen  Elizabeth 
being  found  in  Lincoln's  Inn  Fields — and  a 
waxen  effigy  had  only  one  meaning  in  Elizabeth's 
time — he  was  employed  to  counteract  the  evil 
spells  contained  in  it,  which  he  did  with  such 
conspicuous  success  that  the  Royal  Person  suf- 
fered no  ill-effects  whatever.  Unfortunately  for 
himself.  Dr.  Dee  acquired  in  course  of  time  a 
disciple,  one  Edward  Kelly.  Kelly  proved  an 
apt  daunter  of  demons,  but  he  was  totally  lacking 
in  the  innocent  credulity  so  noticeable  in  the 
character  of  his  reverend  mentor.     At  his  prompt- 

78 


The    Half-way  Worlds 

ing  Dr.  Dee  undertook  a  Continental  tour,  which 
resulted  in  disaster  of  the  most  overwhelming  and 
the  total  loss  of  Dr.  Dee's  good  name.  It  is 
true  that  he  may  be  considered  to  have  deserved 
his  fate,  for  so  absolute  was  his  belief  in  his 
disciple  that  when  that  chevalier  d'industne 
received  a  message  from  a  demoniacal  familiar 
that  it  was  essential  for  the  success  of  their 
alchemical  enterprises  that  they  should  exchange 
wives — Mrs.  Dee  being  as  well-favoured  as  Mrs. 
Kelly  was  the  reverse — the  doctor  accepted  the 
situation  with  implicit  faith,  and  agreed  to  all  that 
the  spirits  desired. 

Among  other  seekers  after  the  Philosopher's 
Stone  and  the  Elixir  Vitse  who  may  be  briefly 
referred  to  were  Alain  de  I'lsle,  otherwise  Alanus 
de  Insulis,  notable  in  that  he  actually  discovered 
the  elixir,  if  his  contemporaries  may  be  believed, 
and  who  so  far  lived  up  to  his  reputation  as  to 
defer  his  death,  which  occurred  in  1298,  until  his 
iioth  year;  Raymond  LuUy,  who,  visiting  Eng- 
land in  or  about  13 12,  was  provided  with  a 
laboratory  within  the  precincts  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  where  many  years  later  a  supply  of  gold- 
dust  was  found;  Nicholas  Flamel,  who  died  in 
1 419,  and  who  gained  most  of  his  occult  know- 
ledge from  a  volume  written  in  Latin  by  the 
Patriarch  Abraham;  and,  to  come  to  later  years, 
William  Lilly,  a  famous  English  practitioner  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  and  an  adept  in  the  use 

79 


The  Book  of  Witches 

of  the  divining  rod,  with  which  he  sought  for 
hidden  treasures  in  Westminster  Abbey,  possibly 
those  left  behind  him  by  Raymond  Lully. 

Perhaps  no  symptom  of  civilisation  is  more 
disquieting  than  the  increasing  tendency  to  com- 
press the  half-way  worlds — built  up  by  our  fore- 
fathers with  such  lavish  expenditure  of  imagina- 
tion— into  the  narrow  limits  of  that  in  which  we 
are  doomed  to  spend  our  working  days— not  too 
joyously.  We  have  seen  how  the  alchemist  and 
the  magician  from  semi-divine  beings,  vested  with 
power  over  gods  and  men,  have  by  degrees  come 
to  be  confounded  with  the  cheap-jack  of  a  country 
fair.  So  it  has  been  with  many  another  denizen 
of  the  Unseeable.  Consider,  for  example,  the 
once  formidable  giant.  Originally  gods,  or 
but  little  inferior  to  them,  so  that  Olympus 
must  exercise  all  its  might  to  prevail  against 
them;  at  one  time  a  nation  in  themselves, 
located  somewhere  in  Cornwall,  with  kings 
of  their  own,  Corcoran,  Blunderbore,  and 
the  rest,  aloof  from  man  except  when,  for 
their  pastime  or  appetite,  they  raided  his 
preserves,  vulnerable,  indeed,  though  only  to 
a  superhuman  Jack;  where  are  your  giants  now? 
Goliath,  though  defeated  by  David,  was  yet  not 
dishonoured,  in  that  he  was  warring  not  against 
a  puny,  sling-armed  shepherd,  but  against  the 
whole  might  of  the  Jewish  Jehovah.  There  were 
giants  on  the  earth  in  those  days,  the  Scriptures 

80 


The    Half-way  Worlds 

tell  us,  and  that  in  terms  giving  us  to  understand 
that  a  giant  was  to  be  regarded  with  respect,  if 
not  with  admiration.  Polyphemus,  again,  though 
outwitted  by  a  mortal,  was  none  the  less  a  figure 
almost  divine,  god-like  in  his  passions  and  his 
agony.  The  whole  ancient  world  teems  with 
anecdotes,  all  proving  the  respectability  of  the  old- 
time  giant.  And  to-day?  I  saw  a  giant  myself 
some  few  years  back.  He  was  in  a  show — and 
he  was  known  as  Goliath.  A  poor,  lean,  knock- 
kneed  wavering  creature,  half-idiotic,  too,  with  a 
sickly,  apologetic  smile,  as  though  seeking  to  dis- 
arm the  inevitable  criticism  his  very  existence 
must  provoke.  Yet  he  was  not  to  blame,  poor, 
anachronistic  wretch.  Rather  it  was  the  spirit  of 
the  age,  that  preferred  to  see  him,  set  up 
for  every  fool  to  jeer  at,  at  sixpence  a  time,  in 
a  showman's  booth,  rather  than  to  watch  him  afar 
off,  his  terror  magnified  by  distance,  walking 
across  a  lonely  heath  in  the  twilight,  bearing  a 
princess  or  a  captive  knight  along  with  him  as 
his  natural  prey.  The  same  spirit  that  has  made 
the  giant  shrink  to  an  absurdity  can  see  only  the 
charlatan  beneath  the  flowing  robes  of  the  astro- 
loger; and  has  argued  the  witch  even  out  of 
existence. 

So  it  is  with  the  mermaid.  They  showed  one 
at  the  same  booth  wherein  the  degenerate  giant 
was  mewed.  A  poor,  shrunken,  grotesque 
creature    enough,    yet    even    so    it    might    have 

8i  G 


The   Book  of  Witches 

passed  for  a  symbol,  if  no  more,  had  they  been 
content  to  leave  it  to  our  imagination.     Instead 
they  must  explain,  even  while  they  pocketed  our 
sixpences,    that   the  whole   thing   was   a    dreary 
sham,   concocted   out  of   the   fore-quarters   of   a 
monkey  and  the  tail  end  of  a  codfish,  the  whole 
welded  together  by  the  ingenious  fingers  of  some 
Japanese  trickmonger.     Yet  there  are  those  who 
would  uphold   such   cruel   candour,  who   would 
prefer  to  pay  sixpence  in  order  to  see  an  ape- 
codfish  rather  than  to  remain  in  blissful  ignorance, 
rather  than  imagine  that  every  wave  may  have 
its   lovely   tenant,   a    sea-maiden    of    more   than 
earthly     tenderness    and     beauty.       Civilisation 
prates  to  us  of  dugongs  and  of  manatees,  and 
other  fish-beasts   that,   it   says,   rising   upon   the 
crest  of  a  wave,  sufficiently  resemble  the  human 
form  to  be  mistaken  for  it  by  credulous,  suscep- 
tible mariners.     But  is  not  our  faith  in  that  tender 
story  of  the  little  mermaid  who,   for  love  of  a 
man,  sought  the  earth  in  human  shape  even  though 
she  knew  that  every  step  must  cause  her  agony, 
every  foot-mark  be  outlined  with  her  blood — is 
not  it  better  for  us  to  believe  that  fairy-tale  than 
to   cram   our  weary  brains  with   all   the   cynical 
truths   of   all   the   dime-museums   or  schools   of 
science  between  London  and  San  Francisco? 

Even  those  who  smile  at  Neptune  and  his 
daughters  cannot  refuse  the  tribute  of  a  shudder 
to  the  Man-Beast.     For  however  it  be  with  the 

82 


The    Half-way   Worlds 

mermaid,  the  were-wolf  is  no  figment  of  the 
imagination.  Not  the  fanciful  alone  are  con- 
vinced that  many  human  beings  partake  of  the 
nature  of  certain  beasts.  You  may  pass  them 
by  the  hundred  in  every  city  street — men  and 
women  showing  in  their  faces  their  kinship  with 
the  horse,  the  dog,  cat,  monkey,  lion,  sparrow. 
And  not  in  their  faces  alone — for  their  features 
do  but  reflect  the  minds  within  them — the  man 
with  the  sharp,  rat-like  face  nine  times  out  of  ten 
has  all  the  selfish  cunning  of  the  rat.  We  have 
no  need  to  seek  for  further  explanation  of  the 
centaur  myth — to  argue  that  some  horseless 
nation,  seeing  horsemen  for  the  first  time,  ac- 
cepted the  man  and  his  mount  as  one  and 
indivisible;  there  are  plenty  of  men  who  have 
as  much  of  the  equine  as  of  the  human  in  their 
composition.  So  it  is  with  the  wolf-man — the 
were-wolf.  He  exists,  and  to  this  day,  despite 
all  your  civilising  influences.  Not  among 
savages  alone — or  chiefly.  He  roams  the  streets 
of  our  great  cities,  seeking  his  prey.  Perhaps 
he  lives  in  the  next  street  to  you — a  prosperous, 
respected  citizen,  with  a  shop  in  Cheapside,  a 
wife  and  family,  and  the  regard  of  all  his  neigh- 
bours. The  wolf  in  him  has  never  been  aroused 
— may  never  be.  Only,  let  Fate  or  chance  so 
will  it,  and — well,  who  can  tell  us  Jack  the 
Ripper's  antecedents?  And  where  in  all  the 
annals  of  lycanthropy  can  you  find  a  grimmer 

83  G  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

instance     of     the     man-wolf     than     Jack     the 
Ripper  ? 

With  the  were -wolf  we  return  to  closer  contact 
with  witchcraft  proper.  It  is  true  that  the  were^ 
wolf  was  not  always  bewitched.  Sometimes  the 
tendency  was  inborn — the  man  or  woman  was 
transformed  into  the  wolf  at  each  recurrent  full 
moon.  In  France — and  more  particularly  in  the 
South,  where  lycanthropy  has  always  had  one  of 
its  strongholds — the  liability  of  certain  indi- 
viduals, especially  if  they  be  born  illegitimate, 
to  this  inconvenience  is  still  firmly  credited 
by  the  popular  mind.  The  were-wolf  may 
be  recognised  for  that  matter,  even  when  in 
his  human  form,  usually  by  the  shape  of 
his  broad,  short-fingered  hands  and  his  hairy 
palm.  It  is  even  possible  to  effect  a  permanent 
cure  should  the  opportunity  occur,  and  that  by 
the  simple  means  of  stabbing  him  three  times  in 
the  forehead  with  a  knife  while  in  his  lupine 
shape.  Again,  in  Scandinavia  and  elsewhere 
certain  men  could  transform  themselves  into 
wolves  at  will — a  superstition  arising  naturally 
enough  out  of  traditions  of  the  Berserkers  and 
the  fits  of  wolfish  madness  into  which  they 
threw  themselves.  Yet  again,  as  Herodotus  tells 
us,  lycanthropy  was  sometimes  a  national  observ- 
ance. The  Neuri,  if  the  Scythians  were  to  be 
believed,  were  in  the  habit  of  changing  themselves 
into  wolves  once  a  year  and  remaining  in  that 

84 


The  Half-way  Worlds 

shape  for  several  days.  But  more  frequently  the 
change  was  attributable  to  some  evil  spell  cast  by 
a  witch.  It  is  true  that  the  wolf  was  only  one  of 
many  animals  into  whose  shape  she  might  con- 
demn a  human  soul  to  enter.  Circe  is,  of  course, 
a  classical  example ;  Saint  Augustine,  in  his  "  De 
Civitate  Dei,"  relates  how  an  old  lady  of  his 
acquaintance  used  to  turn  men  into  asses  by 
means  of  enchantments — an  example  which  has 
been  followed  by  younger  ladies  ever  since,  by 
the  way — while  Apuleius'  "  Golden  Ass  "  gives 
us  an  autobiographical  testimony  to  the  efficacy 
of  certain  drugs  towards  the  same  end. 

Doubtless  because  the  wolf  was  extirpated  in 
this  country  at  a  comparatively  early  date  English 
were-wolf  legends  are  few  and  far  between. 
They  could  indeed  only  become  universally  cur- 
rent in  a  country  mainly  pastoral  and  infested  by 
wolves,  as,  for  instance,  in  ancient  Arcadia,  where 
indeed  the  were-wolf  came  into  his  highest  estate, 
or  in  many  parts  of  Eastern  and  South-Eastern 
Europe  to-day.  In  certain  Balkan  districts 
the  were-wolf  shares  the  attributes  of  the 
vampire,  another  allied  superstition  which  is 
by  no  means  without  its  foundations  of  fact. 
Most  people  must  have,  indeed,  been  acquainted 
at  some  time  or  other  with  the  modern  form  of 
vampire,  individuals  who  unconsciously  feed  upon 
the  vitality  of  those  with  whom  they  come  into 
contact.     Many  stories  have  been  written,  many 

85 


The   Book  of  Witches 

legends  founded  upon  this  phenomenon,  to  the 
truth  of  which  many  people  have  testified  from 
their  own  experience.  At  which  point  I  leave 
the  subject  to  those  with  more  scientific  know- 
ledge than  myself. 

In  case  there  should  be  any  who  desire  to 
transform  themselves  into  a  wolf  without  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  resorting  to  a  witch,  I  will 
close  this  chapter  with  a  spell  warranted  to  pro- 
duce the  desired  effect  without  any  further  outlay 
than  the  price  of  a  small  copper  knife.  It  is  of 
Russian  origin,  and  is  quoted  from  Sacharow  by 
Mr.  Baring  Gould.  "  He  who  desires  to  become 
an  oborot  (oborot  =  ' one  transformed '  =  were- 
wolf) let  him  seek  in  the  forest  a  hewn-down 
tree;  let  him  stab  it  with  a  small  copper  knife 
and  walk  round  the  tree,  repeating  the  following 
incantation : 

On  the  sea,  on  the  ocean,  on  the  island,  on  Bujan, 

On  the  empty  pasture  gleams  the  moon,  on  an  ash-stock 

lying 
In  a  greenwood,  in  a  gloomy  vale. 
Towards  the  stock  wandereth  a  shaggy  wolf, 
Horned  cattle  seeking  for  his  sharp  white  fangs ; 
But  the  wolf  enters  not  the  forest, 
But  the  wolf  dives   not   into  the  shadowy   vale. 
Moon,  moon,  gold-horned  moon 

Check  the  flight  of  bullets,  blunt  the  hunters'  knives, 
Break  the  shepherds'  cudgels, 
Cast  wild  fear  upon  all  cattle. 
On  men,  on  all  creeping  things, 

86 


The  Half-way  Worlds 

That  they  may  not  catch  the  grey  wolf, 
That  they  may  not  rend  his  warm  skin  ! 
My  word  is  binding,  more  binding  than  sleep, 
More  binding  than  the  promise  of  a  hero  ! 

"  Then  he  springs  thrice  over  the  tree  and  runs 
into  the  forest,  transformed  into  a  wolf/' 


87 


CHAPTER  V 


THE    witch's    attributes 


1 


i 


In  his  very  learned  and  exhaustive  treatise,  "  De 
la  Demonomanie  des  Sorciers,"  the  worthy  Bodin, 
with  enterprise  worthy  of  a  modern  serial-story 
writer,  keeps  his  reader's  curiosity  whetted  to  its 
fullest  by  darkly  hinting  his  knowledge  of  awe- 
some spells  and  charms  commonly  employed  by  .j 
Satan's  servants.  Unlike  the  modern  writer,  « 
however,  he  refrains  from  detailing  them  at  length 
in  his  last  chapter,  fearing  to  impart  knowledge 
which  may  easily  be  put  to  the  worst  account. 
However  valuable  a  testimony  to  his  good  faith 
and  discretion,  this  would  certainly  have  brought 
down  upon  him  the  strictures  of  modern  critics,  r: 
and  might  indeed  have  entailed  serious  loss  to  the 
world  had  not  other  less  conscientious  writers 
more  than  rectified  the  omission. 

It  were,  of  course,  impossible  to  include  within 
the  limits  of  such  a  volume  as  is  this — or  of  a 
hundred  like  it — one  tithe  of  the  great  store  of  *f 

spells,  charms,  and  miscellaneous  means  towards 

88 


i 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

enchantment  gathered  together  in  the  long  cen- 
turies since  the  birth  of  the  first  witch.  So  also 
it  is  impossible  to  select  any  particular  stage  in 
her  long  evolution  as  the  most  characteristic,  as 
regards  her  manners  and  customs,  of  all  that  we 
imply  by  the  word  "  witch."  On  the  other 
hand,  she  has  definitely  crystallised  in  the  minds 
of  those  of  us  who  have  ever  been  children, 
in  the  shape  of  the  "  horrid  old  witch  "  of  fairy 
lore;  and  just  as,  in  a  preceding  chapter,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  reproduce  one  of  her  working 
days — as  imaged  in  the  popular  mind — so  the 
witch  of  the  Middle  Ages  may  best  be  chosen 
when  we  would  reconstruct  her  more  human 
aspect. 

Of  her  actual  appearance,  divested  of  her  in-, 
fernal  attributes,  no  better  description  could  be 
desired  than  that  given  by  Reginald  Scot  in  "  The 
Discoverie  of  Witchcraft  "  : — "  Witches  be  com- 
monly old,  lame,  bleare-eied,  pale,  fowle,  and 
full  of  wrinkles ;  poore,  sullen,  superstitious,  and 
papists  '' — (it  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  point  out 
that  Scot  was  of  the  Reformed  Faith)—"  or  such 
as  know  no  religion;  in  whose  drousie  minds  the 
devill  hath  goten  a  fine  seat;  so  as,  what  mis- 
chief e,  mischance,  calamitie  or  slaughter  is  brought 
to  passe,  they  are  easilie  persuaded  the  same  is 
doone  by  themselves,  imprinting  in  their  minds  an 
earnest  and  constant  imagination  hereof.  X^^y 
are  leane  and  deformed,  showing:  melancholie  in 

'  89 


The  Book  of  Witches 

their  faces  to  the  horror  of  all  that  see  them. 
They  are  doting,  scolds,  mad,  divilish." 

Endowed  with  so  unfortunate  a  personality,  it 
is  not  surprising  that,  as  Scot  goes  on  to  inform 
us,  the  witch  should  have  found  it  difficult  to 
make  a  living.  It  is  indeed  an  interesting 
example  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  that 
such  woeful  figures  being  needed  for  the  proper 
propagation  of  the  witch-mania,  the  conditions  of 
mediaeval  life,  by  their  harsh  pressure  upon  the 
poor  and  needy  among  women,  should  have  pro- 
vided them  by  the  score  in  every  village.  You 
may  find  the  conventional  witch-figure  to-day  in 
the  lonely  hamlet  or  in  the  city  workhouse,  but, 
thanks  to  our  better  conditions  of  life,  she  has 
become  almost  as  rare  as  have  accusations  of 
witchcraft  against  her. 

The  only  means  of  subsistence  open  to  her, 
Scot  goes  on,  is  to  beg  from  house  to  house.  In 
time  it  comes  about  that  people  grow  weary  of 
her  importunities.  Perhaps  they  show  their  im- 
patience too  openly.  "  Then,"  says  Scot,  "  she 
curses  one  or  the  other,  from  the  master  of  the 
house  to  the  little  pig  that  lieth  in  the  stie." 
Someone  in  the  wide  range  between  those  two 
extremes  will  be  certain  to  suffer  some  kind  of 
mischance  before  long — on  much  the  same  prin- 
ciple as  that  which  gives  life  to  one  of  our  most 
popular  present-day  superstitions,  the  ill-luck 
attending  a  gathering  of  "  thirteen  at  table."  Any 

90 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

such  disaster  is  naturally  attributed  to  the  old 
beggar-woman — who  is  thus  at  once  elevated  to 
the  dangerous  eminence  of  witch-hood.  Nor  did 
the  sufferer  always  wait  for  her  curse.  Edward 
Fairfax,  for  example,  the  learned  seventeenth 
century  translator  of  Tasso,  upon  an  epidemic 
sickness  attacking  his  children,  sought  out  their 
symptoms  in  a  "  book  of  medicine."  Not  finding 
any  mention  of  "  such  agonies  "  as  those  exhi- 
bited by  his  children,  he  determined  that  some 
unholy  agency  must  be  at  work.  His  thoughts 
turned,  naturally  enough,  to  the  gloomy  forest  of 
Knaresborough,  within  convenient  distance  of  his 
abode.  Nothing  could  be  more  suspicious  than 
the  mere  fact  of  living  in  such  a  suggestive 
locality,  yet  Margaret  White,  widow  of  a  man 
executed  for  theft,  her  daughter,  and  Jennie 
Dibble,  an  old  widow  coming  of  a  family  sus- 
pected of  witchcraft  for  generations  past,  were  im- 
prudent, or  unfortunate,  enough  to  live  within  its 
borders.  The  natural  result  attended  their 
rashness — and  so  earnest  was  the  worthy  Fairfax 
that  he  set  the  whole  proceedings  down  in  a  book, 
adding  a  minute  account  of  the  symptoms  and 
delusions  of  the  invalids. 

As  the  King  has  his  orb  and  sceptre,  the  astro- 
loger his  spheres  and  quadrant,  so  the  witch  has 
her  insignia  of  office.  And  it  is  a  strong  indica- 
tion of  her  descent  from  the  first  house-wife  that 
most  of  them  are  domestic  or  familiar  objects. 

9x 


The  Book  of   Witches 

The  imp  or  "  familiar  "  who  attends  her  may  have 
the  form  of  a  bird  or  dog,  but  is  far  more  often  the 
most  domestic  animal  of  all,  the  cat.  Frequently 
it  is  malformed  or  monstrous,  in  common  with 
Satan  himself  and  all  the  beings  who  owe  him 
allegiance.  It  may  have  any  number  of  legs, 
several  tails,  or  none  at  all;  its  mewing  is 
diabolic;  it  may  be  far  above  the  usual  stature 
of  its  kind.  Usually  it  is  black,  but  is  equally 
eligible  if  white  or  yellow.  As  is  a  common 
incident  of  all  religions,  the  symbol  is  sometimes 
confused  with  the  office,  the  witch  and  her  cat 
exchanging  identities.  Thus  witches  have  con- 
fessed under  torture  to  have  formerly  been  cats, 
and  to  owe  their  human  shape  to  Satan's  interfer- 
ence with  natural  laws.  A  piebald  cat  is  said  to 
become  a  witch  if  it  live  for  nine  years,  and 
the  witch,  when  upon  a  nefarious  errand,  fre- 
quently assumes  a  feline  shape. 

A  characteristic  of  the  witch,  in  common  with 
demons  and  imps  in  general,  is  that  she  does 
everything  contrary  to  the  tastes  and  customs  of 
good  Christians.  With  the  one  steady  exception 
of  the  cat,  she  most  esteems  animals  repellent  to 
the  ordinary  person,  to  women  in  particular,  and 
her  imps  may  appear  as  rats  or  mice,  usually  tail- 
less, spiders,  fleas,  nits,  flies,  toads,  hares,  crows, 
hornets,  moles,  frogs,  or,  curiously  enough, 
domestic  poultry.  An  important  item  in  her 
outfit  is  her  broomstick — as  homely  an  insignia  as 

92 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

the  cat.  Its  feminine  connection  is  obvious, 
though  possibly  its  power  of  flight  may  be  derived 
from  the  magic  wand.  Smeared  with  a  Satanic 
ointment,  it  acts  as  her  chariot,  or  is  prepared  to 
serve  her  as  a  weapon  of  offence  or  defence — and 
woe  to  him  who  suffers  a  beating  from  the  witch's 
broom-handle. 

-  The  spindle,  emblem  of  domesticity,  becomes 
in  the  witch's  hands  a  maleficial  instrument,  and 
may  be  applied  by  her  to  a  number  of  evil  uses. 
The  idea  of  the  thread  of  life  enters  into  many 
mythologies,  and  it,  from  some  confusion  of 
ideas,  may  well  have  been  instrumental  in  trans- 
forming the  natural  occupation  of  an  old  woman 
into  one  of  the  dangerous  tricks  of  witchcraft. 

Just  as  "  loathly  "  reptiles,  the  snake,  the 
lizard,  and  the  toad,  stand  in  close  relation 
to  the  witch,  so  plants  growing  in  suggestive 
places  or  notoriously  poison-bearing  are  especially 
connected  with  her.  Hemlock,  mandrake, 
henbane,  deadly  nightshade — or  moonshade, 
as  it  was  sometimes  called — saffron,  poplar- 
leaves,  all  avoided  by  the  common  folk,  are 
held  in  high  esteem  by  Satan's  servants  for 
their  use  in  the  concoction  of  love-philtres  and 
other  noxious  brews. 

For  the  brewing  of  potions  a  cauldron  is  a 
matter  of  course,  and  the  mixtures  popularly 
supposed  to  have  been  brewed  in  it  were  enough 
to  have  given  it  an  evil  reputation  for  all  time. 

93 


The  Book  of  Witches 

The  enumeration  of  their  ingredients  is  un- 
pleasantly suggestive,  even  to  the  unbeliever, 
and  the  credulous  may  well  have  shuddered  at 
such  a  mixture  as : 

Eye  of  newt  and  toe  of  frog, 
Wool  of  bat  and  tongue  of  dog, 
Adder's  fork  and  blindworm's  sting. 
Lizard's  leg  and  howlet's  wing, 


Liver  of  blaspheming  Jew, 
Gall  of  goat   and  slips  of  yew, 

Finger  of  birth-strangled  babe,  &c.,  &c. 

It  is  true  that  a  Macbeth  was  not  to  be  catered 
for  every  day,  and  simpler  effects  could  have 
been  obtained  by  less  complicated,  though  per- 
haps not  less  unappetising  means. 

Of  all  these  insignia  and  attributes  of  her  office 
the  most  important,  as  the  most  characteristic, 
were  her  "  familiars  "  or  imps.  In  mediaeval  real 
life,  just  as  in  modern  fairy-lore,  the  witch's  pos- 
session of  a  cat — or  other  animal,  however  harm- 
less it  might  seem — was  proof  positive  of  her 
guilt.  Without  her  familiar,  indeed,  she  could 
scarcely  have  claimed  the  powers  attributed  to 
her,  for,  whatever  its  form,  it  was  the  ever-present 
reminder  of  her  contract  with  their  common 
master,  and  in  many  cases  the  channel  through 
which  his  commands  and  the  means  for  their 
carrying  out  were  communicated  to  her.       The 

94 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

infinite  variations  of  form  and  kind  of  these  same 
'•'  imps,"  as  set  out  in  the  proceedings  at  the 
trials,  bear  strong  testimony  of  the  wild  imagina- 
tions possessed  by  our  forefathers  or  the  Devil, 
as  we  may  prefer  to  believe.  Thus  Margaret 
White,  in  the  Fairfax  case  just  referred  to,  had 
for  familiar  a  deformed  creature  with  many  feet, 
sooty  in  hue  and  rough-haired,  being  of  name 
unknown.  Her  daughter,  who  resembled  her  in 
all  things,  with  the  addition  of  "  impudency  and 
lewd  behaviour,"  had  a  white  cat  spotted  with 
black.  Jennie  Dibble  had  a  black  cat  called 
Gibbe,  "  who  hath  attended  her  above  40  yeares." 
All  these  imps,  whatever  their  shape,  obtained 
their  nourishment  by  sucking  their  mistress's 
blood,  leaving  marks  upon  her  body,  which 
formed  deadly  evidence  against  her  at  her  trial. 
Nor  was  there  any  hope  of  cheating  justice  by 
giving  these  devil's  marks  commonplace  forms, 
for  they  were  recognised  even  when  made, 
by  the  Devil's  cunning,  to  appear  like  moles, 
birth-marks,  or  even  flea-bites  ! 

There  is  some  slight  confusion  about  the 
provenance  of  this  same  witch-mark,  unless  it 
varied  in  individual  cases — ^whether,  that  is  to 
say,  the  marks  were  the  result  of  suckling  the 
imps,  or  whether,  being  already  imprinted  on  the 
witch's  body,  they  were  selected  for  that  reason. 
Certainly  there  is  frequent  reference  to  the  cere- 
mony  of    its   imprinting   immediately   after    the 

95 


The  Book   of  Witches 

signature  of  the  contract  with  Satan,  and  at  the 
same  time  that  her  nickname  and  famiUars  were 
assigned  to  his  new  servant.  Its  object  is  ingeni- 
ously explained  by  the  unctuous  Pierre  de  Lancre, 
no  mean  authority.  Satan,  he  tells  us,  wishing 
to  ape  God  in  all  things,  has  instituted  this  mark- 
ing of  his  servants  in  imitation  of  the  stigmata 
and  also  of  the  circumcision.  A  more  practical 
explanation,  given  by  some  writers,  is  that  the 
Devil's  mark,  having  the  quality  of  itching  at 
certain  seasons,  is  conferred  upon  witches 
that  they  may  never  oversleep  themselves  and 
thus  be  late  for  the  Sabbath  ceremonies.  The 
root  of  the  whole  matter,  however,  as  the  worthy 
Pierre  is  half-inclined  to  believe — and  as  some 
of  us  may  be  half-inclined  to  agree  with  him  in 
thinking — is  that  the  mark  (he  compares  it  to  a 
toad's  foot)  has  merely  been  instituted  by  Satan 
out  of  his  love  of  importance  and  display,  and 
with  no  further  motive. 

Although  in  earlier  ages  this  formality  may 
have  been  dispensed  with,  by  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury the  witch  invariably  signed  a  definite 
contract  with  Satan.  As  was  only  too  probable, 
seeing  that  they  dispensed  with  an  attorney,  while 
the  other  person  to  the  bargain,  himself  of  no 
mean  intelligence,  might  chose  among  an  infinity 
of  legal  advisers,  the  contract  was  of  a  very  one- 
sided nature.  Nothing,  at  least,  was  ever  out- 
wardly visible  of  tho$e  advantages  for  which  she 

96 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

bartered  away  body  and  soul.  Even  such  satis- 
faction as  may  have  come  from  attending  the  Sab- 
baths was  dearly  bought,  for  not  only  did  her 
earthly  neighbours  show  their  resentment  in  the 
most  forcible  manner,  but  her  reception  by  Satan, 
unless  she  had  carried  out  his  instructions  to  the 
furthest  limit,  was  apt  to  be  unamiable  in  the 
extreme.  Of  any  more  material  satisfaction — 
save,  of  course,  that,  and  it  is  perhaps  as  sub- 
stantial as  human  happiness  can  be — of  paying 
off  old  scores,  there  is  no  sign  at  all.  It  is  per- 
haps this  lack  of  business  instinct  which  most 
markedly  differentiates  the  witch  from  the  sor- 
cerer. He  almost  invariably  gained  whatever 
worldly  advantages  he  desired  during  the  term 
of  his  agreement,  and  not  infrequently  tricked 
Satan  out  of  his  share  of  the  bargain  at  the  end 
of  it. 

Of  the  preliminaries  leading  up  to  the  bargain 
we  are  given  an  illuminating  glimpse  by  Edward 
Fairfax  in  his  already  quoted  book.  His  daugh- 
ter Helen,  being  in  a  trance,  saw  the  wife  of  one 
Thorp,  and,  with  the  impertinent  enthusiasm  of 
youth — as  it  now  seems  to  us — urged  her  to  pray 
"  with  such  vehemence  that  Thorp's  wife  wept 
bitterly  a  long  time.  Then  she  asked  her  how 
she  became  a  witch,  and  the  woman  answered  that 
a  man  like  to  a  man  of  this  world  came  unto  her 
upon  the  moor  and  offered  her  money,  which  at 
first  she  refused,  but  at  the  second  time  of  his 

97  •        H 


The  Book  of  Witches 

coming  he  did  overcome  her  in  such  sort  that  she 
gave  him  her  body  and  soul,  and  he  made  her 
a  lease  back  again  of  her  life  for  40  years,  which 
was  now  ended  upon  Shrove  Tuesday  last.  The 
man  did  write  their  lease  with  their  blood,  and 
they  likewise  with  their  blood  set  their  hands  to 
them.  That  her  lease  was  in  his  keeping,  and 
every  7th  year  he  showed  it  unto  them,  and  now 
it  was  3  years  since  she  saw  hers,  and  that  each 
7th  year  they  renewed  it.  She  said  further 
that  she  knew  40  witches,  but  there  were  only 
7  of  her  company."  From  other  accounts  we 
learn  that  in  the  act  of  signing  the  contract  the 
witch  frequently  put  one  hand  to  the  sole  of  her 
foot  and  the  other  to  the  crown  of  her  head — 
a  gymnastic  exercise  that  can  scarcely  have 
been  coincident  with  the  affixing  of  her  signa- 
ture, however.  Anyone  who,  despite  his  cozen- 
ing of  witches,  may  urge  the  number  of  times 
when  Satan  was  over-reached  by  sorcerers,  as  a 
proof  that  his  intelligence  is  over-rated,  may  find 
evidence  that  he  is  occasionally  gifted  with  busi- 
ness acumen  in  the  confession  of  one  M.  Guil- 
laume  de  Livre,  Doctor  of  Theology,  who  was 
so  unlucky  as  to  be  condemned  for  witchcraft  in 
1453.  By  the  terms  of  his  bargain  with  Satan 
he  was  bound  to  preach  whenever  possible  that 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  real  sorcery.  "  Such," 
as  Bodin  very  acutely  remarks,  "  are  the  wiles 
and  lures  of  the  Evil  One.'- 

98 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

Her  contract  once  signed,  the  witch  naturally 
became  as  soon  as  possible  proficient  in  the 
"  Devil's  rudiments,"  which  James  I.  describes 
as  "  unlawful  charms  without  natural  causes. 
Such  kinde  of  charms  as  commonlie  dafte  wives 
use,  for  healing  of  forspoken  goodes,  for  preserv- 
ing them  from  evil  eyes,  by  knitting  roun  trees 
or  sundriest  kinde  of  hearbes,  to  the  haire  or  tailes 
of  the  goodes;  by  curing  the  worme,  by  stem- 
mmg  of  bloode ;  by  healing  of  Horse-crookes,  by 
turning  of  the  riddle,  or  doing  of  such-like  in- 
numerable things  by  words  without  applying  anie- 
thing  meete  to  the  part  offended,  as  Mediciners 
doe."  "  Children  cannot  smile  upon  a  witch 
without  the  hazard  of  a  perpetual  wry  smile," 
writes  Stephens  in  1615.  "  Her  prayers  and 
amens  be  a  charm  and  a  curse  .  .  .  her  highest 
adoration  hie  yew  trees,  dampest  churchyards, 
and  a  fayre  moonlight;  her  best  preservatives 
odde  numbers  and  mightie  Tetragrammaton." 

Her  crimes  were  many  and  varied  enough  to 
provide  contemporary  writers  with  long  pages  of 
delectable  matter.  Thus,  Holland  declares,  in 
"A  Treatise  Against  Witchcraft"  (1590),  that: — 

They  renounce  God  and  all  true  religion. 

They  blaspheme   and  provoke   His   Divine   Majesty  with 

unspeakable  contempt. 
They  believe  in  the  Devill,  adore  him,  and  sacrifice  unto 

him. 
They  offer  their  children  unto  devills. 

99  H    2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

They  svveare  unto  Satan,  and  promise  to  bring  as  many  as 
they  can  unto  his  service  and  profession. 

They  invocate  Satan  in  their  praiers,  and  sweare  by  his 
name." 

Besides  preaching  gross  immorality  : — 

They  commit  horrible  murders,  and  kill  young  infants. 

Al  Sorcerers  for  the  most  part  exercise  poison,  and  to 
kill  with  poison  is  far  more  heinous  than  simple  murder. 

They  kill  men's  cattle. 

And,  lastly,  the  witches  (as  they  themselves  confesse)  com- 
mit many  abominations   and   filthenes. 

Other  accounts  follow  similar  lines  or  add 
further  indictments;  as  Jean  Bodin,  who  also 
details  the  crimes  of  eating  human  flesh  and 
drinking  blood,  destroying  fruit  and  causing 
famine  and  sterility.  Generally  speaking,  then, 
the  crimes  of  witchcraft  fall  under  the  headings 
of  offences  against  religion  and  the  Church; 
of  those  against  the  community  in  general, 
such  as  causing  epidemics  or  bad  weather; 
and  of  those  against  individuals,  including 
murder,  especially  of  young  children,  causing 
disease,  and  injury  to  property.  Such  catholic 
appreciation  in  wrong-doing  could  not  fail  to 
arouse  the  disapproval  of  all  right-thinking 
people,  and  as  the  mere  charge  of  witchcraft, 
supported  by  any  one  accusation,  implied  the  per- 
petration of  all  these  various  misdeeds,  it  is 
scarcely  wonderful  that  the  witch,  once  appre- 
hended, had  small  chance  of  escape. 

lOO 


The  Witch's   Attributes 

Although  less  generally  harmful  in  its  effects, 
the  witch's  passion  for  aviation  was  as  reprehen- 
sible as  the  rest  of  her  proceedings.  For  one 
thing,  it  was  generally  considered  an  offensive 
parody  of  the  angels'  mode  of  progression. 
Pierre  de  Lancre,  indeed,  who  is  unusually  well 
informed,  states  this  as  a  fact.  He  points  out 
further  that  the  good  angels  can  fly  much 
faster,  being  able  to  use  their  wings,  while 
the  witch  has  to  make  use  of  some  artificial 
means  of  support,  as,  for  example,  a  broomstick. 
It  is  characteristic  of  the  cross-grained  eccen- 
tricity of  witches  that  whereas  a  good  angel,  like 
a  good  Christian,  enters  or  leaves  the  room  by 
the  door,  the  witch  prefers  the  less  convenient 
egress  of  the  chimney.  This  was  the  more 
aggravating  that  it  rendered  useless  any  attempts 
by  beleaguering  the  house  to  catch  her  in  the  act, 
seeing  that  she  only  flies  by  night;  and  Satan 
further  provides  against  discovery  by  allowing 
her  to  leave  her  imp  in  her  own  shape  behind  her, 
and  thus,  if  need  be,  provide  a  satisfactory  alibi. 
The  only  way  of  getting  at  the  real  fact  of  the 
matter  was  then  by  obtaining  a  confession  from 
the  witch  herself — which  could,  howe^^er,  usually 
be  arranged  for  by  the  authorities.  The  broom- 
stick, be  it  noted,  was  not  an  essential  to  the 
witch's  aerial  journeys;  asses  and  horses,  if  pro- 
perly anointed  with  witch-ointment,  could  be  used 
at  a  pinch,  as  could  a  straw,  an  eggshell,  or  a 

101 


The   Book  of   Witches 

barndoor  fowl — to  mention  three  out  of  many 
possible  mounts.  Satan  has  been  known  to  take 
upon  himself  the  shape  of  a  goat,  and  thus  to 
provide  a  steed  for  those  he  most  delights  to 
honour.  This  is,  however,  attended  by  one  grave 
and  dangerous  disadvantage.  Satan  hates  the 
sound  of  church-bells,  and  should  he  hear  the 
sound  of  the  Ave  Maria  while  carrying  a  witch 
through  the  air,  will  very  likely  drop  her  at  once 
— as  actually  happened  to  a  witch  named  Lucrece 
in  1524. 

The  ever-helpful  De  Lancre  details  four  ways 
of  getting  to  the  Sabbath  : 

(i)  By  thought  or  meditation,  as  in  the  vision 
of  Ezekiel. 

(2)  On  foot. 

(3)  By  being  carried  through  the  air  by  Satan. 

(4)  By  going  in  dreams  or  illusions,  which  leave 
the  witch  uncertain  whether  she  has  really  been 
present  in  the  flesh  or  only  had  a  nightmare.  But 
De  Lancre  is  assured  that  the  transport  is  real, 
seeing  that  they  have  actually  been  seen  descend- 
ing from  the  clouds,  naked  and  often  wounded, 
while  they  are  often  so  exhausted  thereafter  as 
to  be  obliged  to  keep  their  beds  for  several  days. 

The  ointment  used  by  witches  for  such  pur- 
poses are  by  many  considered  to  have  been  but 
another  instance  of  Satan's  cunning  and  lack  of 
good  faith.  As  a  tangible  token  of  her  service, 
they   flatter   the   witch's    sense    of   importance — ^ 

102 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

though  in  themselves  quite  useless — while  the 
obtaining  of  these  ingredients  necessitates  a  good 
deal  of  mischief  being  done  to  good  Christians. 
Holland,  who  tells  us  that  "  Witches  make 
oyntements  of  the  fatte  of  young  children/'  adds 
that  Satan  has  no  great  opinion  of  the  said 
''  oyntements,"  but  loves  the  bloodshed  it  entails. 
Wierus  provides  us  with  a  more  detailed  grue- 
some recipe.  By  their  spells  witches  cause  young 
children  to  die  in  the  cradle  or  by  their  mother's 
side.  When  they  are  dead,  of  suffocation  or  other 
causes,  and  have  been  buried,  the  witches  take 
them  out  of  the  grave  and  boil  them  in  a  cauldron 
until  the  flesh  leaves  the  bones,  and  the  rest  is 
as  easy  to  drink  as  melted  wax.  Of  the  thicker 
portions  the  ointment  is  made;  while  whoever 
drinks  the  liquid  will  become  mistress  of  the  whole 
art  of  witchcraft.  Bacon  speaks  of  several  other 
ingredients.  To  the  customary  fat  of  children 
"  digged  out  of  their  graves,"  he  adds  the  juices 
of  smallage,  wolf-bane,  and  cinque-foil,  mingled 
with  the  meal  of  fine  wheat,  and,  he  says,  "  I 
suppose  the  soporiferous  medicines  are  likest  to  do 
it,  which  are  hen-bane,  hemlock,  mandrake,  moon- 
shade,  tobacco,  opium,  saffron,  and  poplar-leaves." 
Some  are  of  opinion  that  such  soporific  elements 
are  introduced  into  the  ointment  by  the  Devil  in 
order  to  dull  the  senses  of  his  servants,  that  he 
may  the  more  easily  do  as  he  likes  with  them — 
but  as  those  who  have  gone  so  far  in  procuring 

103 


The   Book  of   Witches 

the  piece  de  resistance  of  the  mixture  are  not 
likely  to  be  over-scrupulous,  such  a  precaution 
seems  almost  unnecessary. 

The  poisons,  "  charms,"  and  baleful  powders 
needed  by  the  witches  in  their  ordinary  business- 
routine  may  be  made  either  in  their  own  domestic 
cauldron  or  at  the  Sabbath.  They  include  such 
ingredients  as  the  heads  of  toads,  spiders,  or  the 
bark  and  pith  of  the  "  Arbre  Maudit."  The 
semi-solids  are  the  most  poisonous  to  human 
beings,  while  the  liquid  varieties  are  used  to 
destroy  crops  and  orchards.  For  doing  damage 
on  the  sea  or  among  the  mountains,  powders  are 
well  considered — made  of  toads'  flesh,  roasted, 
dried,  and  pulverised,  and  subsequently  cast  into 
the  air  or  scattered  on  the  ground,  according  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Another  and  very 
baleful  poison  may  be  made  of  "  green  water  "; 
so  potent  is  it  that  even  to  touch  it  causes  instant 
death.  A  paste  entirely  efficacious  against  con- 
fession under  torture  may  be  made  with  black 
millet  mixed  with  the  dried  liver  of  an  unbaptised 
child.  A  skinned  cat,  a  toad,  a  lizard  or  an  asp, 
roasted,  dried,  pulverised,  and  burned  until 
required,  may  be  put  to  excellent  purposes  of 
offence.  Cast  in  the  air  or  on  the  ground,  with 
the  words  "  This  is  for  corn,  this  for  apples," 
and  so  forth,  such  a  powder,  if  used  in  sufficient 
quantities,  will  turn  a  smiling  country-side  into  a 
desert.     There  is,  indeed,  one  plant  which  resists 

104 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

all  such  spells — the  common  onion.  Thus  De 
Lancre  tells  us  of  a  certain  garden  so  injured  by 
these  powders  that  everything  died  except  the 
onions — for  which,  he  adds,  the  Devil  has  a 
particular  respect.  If  this  respect  comes  from 
dislike  of  its  smell — and  Satan  is  known  to  have 
a  very  delicate  nose — our  modern  prejudice 
against  the  onion-eater  immediately  after  dinner 
would  seem  to  be  only  another  proof  of  man's 
natural  tendency  to  evil. 

In  deference  to  the  unceasing  demand,  the 
witch  has  ever  been  a  prominent  exponent  of 
prophecy  and  divination — nor  have  any  of  her 
practices  given  more  offence  to  Holy  Church.  At 
the  late  period  of  her  history  we  are  now  consider- 
ing, she  had  acquired  a  sufficiently  varied  reper- 
toire of  methods  to  satisfy  the  most  exacting.  To 
quote  from  a  long  list  supplied  us  by  Holland, 
the  witch  of  his  times  could  divine  : — "  By  fire, 
by  the  ayer,  by  water,  by  the  earth,  by  the  dead, 
by  a  sive,  by  a  cocke,  by  a  twibble  or  an  axe,  by 
a  ring,  by  Ise,  by  meale,  by  a  stone,  by  a  lawrell, 
by  an  asse's  head,  by  smoake,  by  a  rodde,  by 
pieces  of  wood,  by  a  basin  of  water,  by  certain 
round  vessels  of  glasse  full  of  water,  by  rubbing 
of  the  nayles."  All  of  which  go  to  show  that  she 
had  lost  little  of  the  skill  possessed  before  her  by 
Egyptian  necromancers  and  mediaeval  magicians. 

But  the  most  fantastic,  as  it  became  the  most 
famous,  incident  of  the  witch's  life,  as  viewed  by 

105 


The   Book  of  Witches 

her  contemporaries,  was  certainly  the  Sabbath. 
In  a  previous  chapter  I  have  endeavoured  to  pro- 
vide some  narrative  account  of  such  a  gathering 
as  being  the  simplest  and  directest  method  of  re- 
construction. It  was,  however,  obviously  impos- 
sible to  include  one  tithe  of  the  various  incidents 
at  one  or  other  period  attached  thereto  by  writers. 
Inquisitors  or  witches  themselves — and  this  quite 
apart  from  the  obvious  limitations  entailed,  in 
matters  of  detail,  upon  one  who  writes  for  the 
general  public. 

These  same  Sabbaths  might  be  described  in 
modern  terms  of  commerce  as  Satan's  stock- 
takings, whereon  he  might  check  the  number  and 
loyalty  of  his  subjects.  They  were  of  two  kinds 
— the  more  important,  or  "  Sabbaths-General," 
to  which  flocked  witches  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  the  more  localised  and  frequent 
"  Sabbaths  "  simple.  Their  place  and  time 
varied,  though  most  frequently  held  after  mid- 
night on  Friday — an  arrangement  agreeable  to 
the  Church  view  of  the  Jews  and  their  Sabbath, 
and  not  impossibly  arising  therefrom.  In  earlier 
days — or  so  De  Lancre  informs  us — the  Devil 
chose  Monday,  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as 
most  suitable,  but,  with  his  usual  inconstancy,  has 
varied  it  several  times  since  then.  Darkness  was 
not  essential.  Sabbaths  having  been  occasionally 
held  at  high  noon.  In  Southern  countries, 
indeed,   the  hours  between  midday  and  3  p.m. 

106 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

were  considered  the  most  dangerous  to  mortals, 
the  terrestrial  demons  having  then  most  power. 
The  pleasures  of  the  midday  meal  might  have  a 
fatal  influence  in  putting  the  intended  victim  off 
his  guard,  his  sleepy  content  making  him  pecu- 
liarly susceptible  to  the  attacks  of  Satan's  agents. 
Some  authorities  give  from  ii  p.m.  to  2  a.m.  as 
the  hours,  seeing  that,  as  in  more  legitimate 
assemblies,  everybody  could  not  arrive  at  once, 
and  there  was  much  business  to  be  gone  through. 
The  Sabbaths-General,  in  mockery  of  the  Church, 
were  usually  held  on  the  four  great  annual  fes- 
tivals. They  might  take  place  anywhere,  though 
certain  spots  were  especially  favoured.  Market- 
places, especially  if  beside  an  important  church, 
were  among  them.  The  mountain  of  Dome,  in 
Perigord,  again,  was  among  the  most  famous 
meeting-places  in  France,  as  were  the  Wrekin  in 
England,  the  Blocksburg  in  Germany,  and  the 
Blockula  in  Sweden.  Attendance  was  not  a  mere 
matter  of  pleasure,  witches  w^ho  failed  being 
severely  punished  by  demons  sent  in  search  of 
them  or  on  their  next  appearance. 

Satan  himself  usually  presided  in  person, 
though  he  was  occasionally  represented  by  an 
underling,  to  the  great  anger  of  the  witches. 
Thus,  on  one  occasion,  he  deprecated  their  wrath 
by  the  explanation  that  in  view  of  a  strenuous 
persecution  then  on  foot  he  had  been  pleading 
the  cause  of  his  followers  with  Janicot — an  im- 

107 


The  Book  of  Witches 

pious  name  for  Jesus — that  he  had  won  his  case, 
and  that  they  would  not  be  burnt.  As  a  reward, 
he  added,  they  must  bring  him  eighty  children, 
to  be  given  to  a  certain  priest  present  at  the  Sab- 
bath, and  later  tried  for  sorcery.  He  appeared 
in  many  forms,  that  of  a  goat  being  perhaps  his 
favourite.  Anyone  who  has  ever  studied  a  goat's 
face,  and  more  particularly  the  expression  of  its 
eyes,  can  testify  to  Satan's  sense  of  the  fitness 
of  things  in  so  doing,  as  also  to  that  of  the  old 
Flemish  painters,  and  more  particularly  Jerome 
Bosch,  who,  in  the  paintings  of  devils  for  which 
he  is  so  justly  famous,  has  made  copious  use  of 
the  goat's  head  as  a  model  for  his  most 
demoniacal  demons.  As  a  goat  Satan  was 
usually  of  monstrous  size,  having  one  face  in  the 
usual  position  and  another  between  his  haunches. 
Marie  d'Aguerre,  who  attended  a  Sabbath  at  the 
mature  age  of  thirteen,  and  afterwards  paid  the 
penalty  with  her  hfe,  testified  that  in  the  middle 
of  the  assembly  was  a  huge  pitcher  of  water,  out 
of  which  Satan  emerged  as  a  goat,  grew  to  enor- 
mous size,  and,  on  his  departure,  returned  again 
into  the  pitcher.  Sometimes  he  had  two  pairs  of 
horns,  in  front  and  behind,  more  usually  only 
three  in  all,  that  in  the  centre  supporting  a  light, 
to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  illuminating 
the  proceedings  and  of  lighting  the  candles 
carried  by  the  witches  in  mockery  of  Christian 
ceremonies.     Above  his  horns  he  sometimes  wore 

1 08 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

a  species  of  cap,  and  sometimes  he  had  a  long 
tail,  in  the  usual  place,  with  a  human  face  above 
it.  This  was  saluted  by  his  guests,  but  he  was 
unable  to  speak  with  it. 

He  might  also  appear  in  the  form  of  a  tree- 
trunk,  without  arms  or  feet,  but  with  the  indistinct 
suggestion  of  a  face,  seated  on  a  throne;  some- 
times like  a  giant,  clad  in  dark  clothes,  as  he  does 
not  wish  his  disciples  to  realise  that  he  is  himself 
suffering  the  proverbial  torture  of  hell.  Some 
attendants  at  the  Sabbath — as,  for  instance,  poor 
little  Corneille  Brolic,  aged  twelve — saw  him  as  a 
four-horned  man;  others,  Janette  d'Abadie  among 
them,  vouch  for  his  having  two  faces ;  others  saw 
him  as  a  black  greyhound  or  a  huge  brass  bull 
lying  on  the  ground.  The  constant  uncertainty 
as  to  the  form  likely  to  be  taken  by  the  host  must 
have  been  an  added  interest  to  the  proceedings — 
and  it  has  been  supposed  by  some  that  his  power- 
ful imagination  led  him  occasionally  to  appear  in 
a  different  shape  to  each  several  guest,  and  to 
change  from  one  to  another  at  frequent  intervals 
during  the  proceedings. 

The  actual  ceremonies,  festivities,  and  ritual  of 
the  Sabbath  varied  greatly  at  different  times  and 
places,  but  having  already  given  a  typical  example 
in  an  earlier  chapter,  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell 
further  on  so  unsavoury  a  subject.  The  various 
accounts,  evolved  from  the  imaginations  of  over- 
willing  witnesses  or  tortured  witch,  however  much 

T09 


The  Book  of  Witches 

they  may  suffer  in  detail,  unite  in  being  the  ex- 
pression of  the  foulest  and  most  obscene  images 
of  a  disordered  brain,  and  as  such  we  may  leave 
them.  So  again  the  Devil's  Mass  was  conducted 
in  such  a  manner  as  might  most  impiously  parody 
the  Christian  ritual.  The  Devil,  however,  as  an 
old  writer  astutely  points  out,  in  thinking  to 
imitate  Christ  by  sitting  on  a  great  golden  throne 
during  the  ceremony,  only  shows  his  exceeding 
folly,  forgetting  that,  although  Christ  often 
spoke  while  sitting,  He  yet  gained  His  greatest 
triumph  on  the  Cross.  With  the  aforesaid  throne 
Satan  conjures  up  all  the  paraphernalia  of  wor- 
ship— temples,  altars,  music,  bells — though  only 
little  ones,  for  he  hates  and  fears  church-bells — 
and  even  crosses.  Four  priests,  one  serving  the 
Mass,  a  deacon,  and  a  sub-deacon  usually 
officiate.  Candles,  holy  water,  incense,  the 
offertory,  sermons,  and  the  elevation  of  the  Host 
all  find  place  in  the  Devil's  Mass.  The  sign  of 
the  cross  is  made  with  the  left  hand,  and  in 
further  mockery  they  chant : — 

In  nomine  Patricia  Aragueaco 
Petrica,  agora,  agora  !     Valentia 
Jouanda  goure  gaitz  goustia. 

Which  is  to  say  : — 

Au  nom  de  Patrique,  Petrique  d'Arragon,  a  cette  heure. 
Valence,   tout  nostre  mal  est  pass6. 

Three  languages,  according  to  French  authori- 

IIO 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

Lies,  Latin,  Spanish  and  Basque,  are  employed  in 
mockery  of  the  Trinity.  The  priest  usually 
elevates  the  Host — which  is  black  and  triangular 
— standing  upon  his  head.  At  the  elevation  of 
the  cup — often  black — the  whole  assembly  cry 
"  Black  crow !  "  but  not  even  Satan  dare  say  this 
at  the  elevation  of  the  Host.  The  ceremony  of 
baptism  is  performed  upon  toads;  while  even 
martyrs  are  not  forgotten — this  part  being  played 
by  sorcerers  so  bemused  that  torture  has  become  a 
mockery  to  them. 

•  One  Jehannes  du  Hard,  in  her  confession,  gives 
us  an  account  of  the  method  of  compound- 
ing poisons  and  witch-ointments  at  the  Sab- 
baths. On  her  second  attendance  she  saw 
a  great  man  dressed  in  black.  At  atten- 
dant produced  an  earthenware  pot,  in  which 
were  many  great  spiders  and  a  white  slug, 
along  with  two  toads.  These  latter  Jehannes 
skinned,  while  a  companion  pounded  the  spiders 
and  the  slug  with  a  pestle.  To  this  mixture  the 
skinned  toads  were  added  later,  having  first  been 
beaten  with  switches  to  render  them  more  poison- 
ous. The  resultant  mixture  was  used  with  entire 
success  to  poison  cattle.  There  is  some  uncer- 
tainty whether  this,  and  similar  poisons,  was 
identical  with  the  ointment  used  by  witches  to 
anoint  their  broomsticks.  In  any  case,  it  is 
intended  by  Satan  in  mockery  of  the  sacrament  of 
baptism  and  Holy  Unction. 

Ill 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Were  there  any  room  for  doubting  that  Satan 
habitually  breaks  faith  with  his  servants,  it  would 
be  dispelled  by  the  testimony  given  before  the 
oft-quoted  authority,  Pierre  de  Lancre,  when  that 
learned  gentleman  was  holding  an  inquisition  in 
the  hag-ridden  district  of  Labourt  by  command  of 
the  Parliament  of  Bordeaux.  That  of  one 
witness,  Legier  Riuasseau,  was  the  more  depend- 
able in  that,  although  an  eye-witness  at  the  Sab- 
bath, he  was  yet  under  no  sort  of  obligation  to 
Satan,  having  bought  the  privilege  from  himi  for 
the  moderate  price  of  two  fingers  and  two  and  a 
half  toes.  His  object  was  worthier  than  the  mere 
gratifying  of  curiosity,  for  he  wished  to  disenchant 
a  certain  Jeanne  Perrin,  who  was  among  those 
present.  That  he  might  be  present  without 
danger,  two  friends  shut  him  in  a  dark  room, 
wherein  he  remained  for  eight  days.  There  the 
Devil  appeared  to  him,  and  explained  that  if  he 
wished  to  see  the  Sabbath  and  also  acquire  the 
power  of  healing  he  could  do  it  for  two 
toes  and  half  a  foot,  to  which  bargain  he 
agreed.  His  friends  afterwards  released  him 
from  his  voluntary  captivity,  but  he  could  not 
escape  the  dark  man,  who  eight  days  later  took 
the  flesh  from  the  great  and  second  toes  and  half 
the  third  of  his  left  foot,  without,  however,  hurt- 
ing him  in  the  least.  Had  he  desired  the  power 
of  doing  evil  as  well,  he  might  have  bought  it  for 
the  remainder  of  his  toes  and  half  the  foot, 
but    being    as    good    as    he    was    prudent    he 

112 


The  Witch's  Attributes 

refrained.  From  his  further  evidence  we  learn 
that  the  Sabbath  takes  place  in  the  market-square 
towards  midnight  on  Wednesday  or  Friday — 
Satan  preferring  stormy  weather,  that  the  wind 
may  scatter  poisons  over  a  wider  area.  That  wit- 
nessed by  Riuasseau  was  presided  over  by  a  large 
and  a  small  devil,  and  all  present — the  witness 
presumably  excepted — adored  Satan  by  kissing 
his  posterior  face.  Thereafter  sixty  witches 
danced  before  him,  each  with  a  cat  tied  to  the  tail 
of  her  shift.  Marie  de  la  Ralde,  another  witness, 
deposed  that  she  often  saw  Satan  approach  the 
children  present  with  a  hot  iron,  but  could  not 
say  definitely  whether  or  not  he  branded 
them.  She  asserted  that  all  enjoyed  the 
Sabbath  to  the  utmost,  the  Devil  having 
absolute  command  over  their  hearts  and 
wills.  Witches,  she  added,  hear  heavenly 
music  and  really  believe  themselves  to  be  in 
Paradise.  The  Devil  persuades  them  that  there 
is  no  such  place  as  Hell,  and  further,  by  render- 
ing them  momentarily  immune,  that  fire  has  no 
power  over  them.  As  a  further  proof  of  Satanic 
astuteness,  she  declared  that  witches  see  so  many 
priests,  pastors,  confessors,  and  other  persons  of 
quality  attending  the  Sabbath  as  to  be  perfectly 
convinced  of  the  entire  correctness  of  the  proceed- 
ings. She  herself,  even  when  she  saw  that  the 
Host  was  black  instead  of  white,  did  not  at  the 
time  realise  that  anything  was  wrong. 

113  I 


CHAPTER   VI 

SOME    REPRESENTATIVE    ENGLISH    WITCHES 

Having  seen  how  the  witch  in  general  lived  and 
went  about  her  evil  business,  it  may  be  well  to 
consider  the  personality  of  individual  members  of 
the  craft.  There  have  been,  needless  to  say, 
many  women  famous  in  other  directions,  who 
have  been  incidentally  regarded  by  their  contem- 
poraries as  possessing  superhuman  powers.  In- 
deed, to  be  condemned  as  a  witch  was  but  to  have 
an  official  seal  set  upon  the  highest  compliment 
payable  to  a  woman  in  more  than  one  period  of 
the  earth's  history,  seeing  that  it  marked  her  out 
from  the  dead  level  of  mediocrity  to  which  her 
sex  was  legally  and  socially  condemned.  It  is 
as  unnecessary  as  it  is  unfair  to  believe  that  the 
English  and  French  worthies  who  burnt  Joan  of 
Arc  were  hypocrites.  That  a  woman  could  do  as 
she  had  done  was  to  them  capable  only  of  two 
explanations.  Either  she  must  be  inspired  from 
above  or  from  below,  according  to  the  point  of 
view.  As  it  was  too  much  to  expect  that  those 
whom  she  had  defeated  should  i^egard  her  vic- 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

tories  as  divine,  it  followed  that  they  could  seem 
nothing  but  infernal.  From  Cleopatra  or  the 
Witch  of  Endor  onwards,  the  exceptional  woman 
has  had  the  choice  of  effacing  her  individuality 
or  of  being  regarded  as  an  agent  of  the  devil.  It 
is  true  that  in  our  own  more  squeamish  days,  we 
prefer  to  regard  her  as  either  eccentric  or  im- 
proper, according  to  her  social  position  and  other 
attendant  circumstances. 

We  may  then  disregard  such  historical  charac- 
ters as  have  other  claims  to  fame,  and  confine  our 
attention  to  those  whose  activities  were  concen- 
trated upon  witchcraft  pure  and  simple.  Nor 
have  we  to  go  far  afield  for  noteworthy  examples, 
seeing  that  they  abound,  not  only  in  England,  but 
even  in  London  itself.  Perhaps  the  most  gener- 
ally respected  of  English  witches,  alike  by  her 
contemporaries  and  succeeding  generations  is 
Mother  Shipton,  who  flourished  in  the  reign  of  \p 
Henry  VII.     More  fortunate  than  the  majority  of  Cp 

her  colleagues,  she  died  a  natural  death,  and  it  is 
scarcely  too  much  to  say  that  her  memory  is  green 
even  to-day — among  certain  classes  of  society,  at 
any  rate.  In  common  with  the  Marquess  of 
Granby,  Lord  Nelson,  and  other  popular  idols, 
Mother  Shipton  has  acted  as  sponsor  for  more 
than  one  public  house  in  different  English  coun- 
ties; the  most  familiar  to  Londoners  being  per- 
haps that  at  the  corner  of  Maiden  Road,  Cam- 
den  Town,   a   stopping-place   on   the   tram   and 

115  I  2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

omnibus  route  to  Hampstead  Heath.  I  have 
not  been  able  to  trace  any  definite  connection 
between  the  witch  and  the  hostelry — probably 
the  choice  of  a  sign  was  made  in  order  to  rival 
another  inn  named  after  Mother  Redcap — herself 
a  witch  of  some  eminence — in  the  same  district. 
Mother  Shipton  was  a  native  of  the  gloomy  forest 
of  Knaresborough,  in  Yorkshire,  a  famous 
forcing-ground  of  Black  Magic,  and,  although 
few  details  of  her  life  have  been  preserved,  we 
know,  so  far  as  tradition  may  be  trusted,  that 
despite  her  evil  reputation  and  the  certainty  that 
she  had  sold  herself  to  the  devil,  she  was  granted 
Christian  burial  in  the  churchyard  at  Clifton,  in 
Yorkshire,  where  she  died.  Whether  this  implies 
that  she  repented,  and  cheated  the  devil  of  his 
bargain,  before  her  death,  or  only  that  the  local 
authorities  were  lax  in  their  supervision  of  the 
parish  cemetery,  is  an  open  question.  At  least, 
a  tombstone  is  said  to  have  been  there  erected  to 
her  memory  with  the  following  inscription  : — 

Here  lies  she  who  never  lied, 
Whose  skill  often  has  been  tried. 
Her  prophecies  shall  still  survive 
And  ever  keep  her  name  alive. 

No  doubt  Mother  Shipton  was  as  gifted  as  her 
fellows  in  the  customary  arts  of  witchcraft,  but 
tradition  draws  a  merciful  veil  over  her  exploits 
as  poisoner  or  spell-caster.  Her  fame  rests 
upon  her  prophecies,  and  whether  she  actually 

ii6 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

uttered  them  herself  or  they  were  attributed  to 
her  after  the  event,  by  admiring  biographers, 
they  have  ever  since  been  accepted  as  worthy  of 
all  respect  even  when  not  attended  by  the  result 
she  anticipated.  Thus,  although  she  is  said  to 
have  foretold  the  coming  of  the  Stuarts  in  the 
person  of  James  I.  with  the  uncomplimentary 
comment  that  with  him  : — 

From  the  cold  North 
Every  evil  shall  come  forth. 

the  British  Solon  yet  placed  the  greatest  reliance 
upon  her  prognostications,  as  did  Elizabeth  before 
him.  It  is  even  said  that  his  attempts  by  various 
pronunciamentos  to  stay  the  increase  in  the  size 
of  London  were  prompted  by  Mother  Shipton's 
well-known  prophecy  that : — 

When  Highgate  Hill  stands  in  the  midst  of  London, 
Then  shall  the  folk  of  England  be  undone. 

If  it  be  argued  by  the  sceptical  that,  although 
the  London  boundaries  are  now  considerably 
beyond  Highgate  Hill,  the  country  has  so  far 
prospered,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  pro- 
phetess gave  no  date  for  the  undoing  of  the 
English  people,  and  that,  if  we  may  believe  the 
mournful  views  taken  of  our  national  future  by 
the  leaders  of  whichever  political  party  happens 
to  be  out  of  office.  Mother  Shipton's  reliability  is 
in  a  fair  v/ay  of  being  vindicated  within  a  very  few 
years. 

117 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Yet  another  of  her  predictions — perhaps  the 
most  famous,  indeed — may  have  been  verified 
already  in  the  days  of  Marlborough,  Nelson,  or 
any  of  several  eminent  commanders,  or  may  be 
still  in  process  of  fulfilment.     It  runs  as  follows  : 

The  time  shall  come  when  seas  of  blood 

Shall  mingle  with  a  greater  flood ; 

Great  noise  shall  then  be  heard; 

Great  shouts  and  cries 

And  seas  shall  thunder  louder  than  the  skies ; 

Then  shall  three  lions  fight  with  tnree,  and  bring 

Joy  to  a  people,  honour  to  a  king. 

That  fiery  year  as  soon  as  o'er 

Peace  shall  then  be  as  before; 

Plenty  shall  everywhere  be  found, 

And  men  with  swords  shall  plough  the  ground. 

The  vagueness  of  this  and  other  prophecies  by 
Mother  Ship  ton,  however  much  they  may  exas- 
perate the  stickler  for  exactitude,  bear  witness  to 
her  direct  descent  from  the  ancient  sibyls  and 
pythons,  few,  if  any,  of  whom  ever  vouchsafed 
anything  more  definite. 

Passing  by  Young  Nixon,  the  dwarf,  who, 
although  a  prophet  scarcely  less  inferior  in  fame 
to  Mother  Shipton,  scarcely  falls  within  the  limit 
of  this  volume — though  it  may  be  noted  that  one 
of  his  best-known  prophecies,  that  he  would  starve 
to  death,  did  actually  come  true — we  may  next 
consider  the  life-history  of  a  witch  less  legendary 
than  Mother  Shipton — the  Mother  Redcap  re- 
ferred to  above  as  having  provided  a  sign  for  a 

ii8 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

Camden  Town  public  house.  Her  career  is 
detailed  with  such  care  in  Palmer's  "  St.  Pancras 
and  its  History,"  and  at  the  same  time  provides 
so  vivid  a  sketch  of  the  probable  career  of  many 
another  witch,  that  I  may  be  excused  for  quoting 
the  extract  at  length  : — 

"  This  singular  character,  known  as  Mother 
Damnable,  is  also  called  Mother  Redcap  and 
sometimes  the  Shrew  of  Kentish  Town.  Her 
father's  name  was  Jacob  Bingham,  by  trade  a 
brickmaker,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Kentish 
Town.  He  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  went  with 
it  to  Scotland,  where  he  married  a  Scotch  pedlar's 
daughter.  They  had  one  daughter,  this  Mother 
Damnable.  This  daughter  they  named  Jinney. 
Her  father,  on  leaving  the  army,  took  again  to 
his  old  trade  of  brick-making,  occasionally  travel- 
ling with  his  wife  and  child  as  a  pedlar.  When 
the  girl  had  reached  her  sixteenth  year,  she  had 
a  child  by  one  Coulter,  who  was  better  known 
as  Gipsy  George.  This  man  lived  no  one  knew 
how,  but  he  was  a  great  trouble  to  the  magis- 
trates. Jinney  and  Coulter  after  this  lived 
together,  but  being  brought  into  trouble  for  steal- 
ing sheep  from  some  lands  near  Holloway, 
Coulter  was  sent  to  Newgate,  tried  at  the  Old 
Bailey,  and  hung  at  Tyburn.  Jinney  then  asso- 
ciated with  one  Darby,  but  this  union  produced 
a  cat  and  dog  life,  for  Darby  was  constantly 
drunk;    so    Jinney    and    her    mother    consulted 

"9 


The  Book  of  Witches 

together;  Darby  was  suddenly  missed,  and  no 
one  knew  whither  he  went.  About  this  time,  her 
parents  were  carried  before  the  justices  for  prac- 
tising the  black  art,  and  therewith  causing  the 
death  of  a  maiden,  for  which  they  were  both  hung. 
Jinney  then  associated  herself  with  one  Pitcher, 
though  who  or  what  he  was  never  was  known; 
but  after  a  time  his  body  was  found  crouched 
up  in  the  oven,  burnt  to  a  cinder.  Jinney  was 
tried  for  the  murder,  but  acquitted  because  one 
of  her  associates  proved  he  had  '  often  got  into 
the  oven  to  hide  himself  from  her  tongue.' 
Jinney  was  now  a  lone  woman,  for  her  former 
companions  were  afraid  of  her.  She  was  scarcely 
ever  seen,  or  if  she  were  it  was  at  nightfall,  under 
the  hedges  or  in  the  lane;  but  how  she  subsisted 
was  a  miracle  to  her  neighbours.  It  happened 
during  the  troubles  of  the  Commonwealth  that 
a  man,  sorely  pressed  by  his  pursuers,  got  into 
her  house  by  the  back-door,  and  begged  on  his 
knees  for  a  night's  lodging.  He  was  haggard 
in  his  countenance  and  full  of  trouble.  He 
offered  Jinney  money,  of  which  he  had  plenty, 
and  she  gave  him  a  lodging.  This  man,  it  is 
said,  lived  with  her  many  years,  during  which 
time  she  wanted  for  nothing,  though  hard  words 
and  sometimes  blows  were  heard  from  her  cottage. 
The  man  at  length  died,  and  an  inquest  was  held 
on  the  body,  but,  though  everyone  thought  him 
poisoned,  no  proof  could  be  found,  and  so  she 

120 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

again  escaped  harmless.  After  this  Jinney  never 
wanted  money,  as  the  cottage  she  lived  in  was 
her  own,  built  on  waste  land  by  her  father.  Years 
thus  passed,  Jinney  using  her  foul  tongue  against 
everyone,  and  the  rabble  in  return  baiting  her  as 
if  she  were  a  wild  beast.  The  occasion  of  this 
arose  principally  from  Jinney  being  reputed  a 
practiser  of  the  black  art — a  very  witch.  She 
was  resorted  to  by  numbers,  as  a  fortune-teller 
and  healer  of  strange  diseases;  and  when  any 
mishap  occurred,  then  the  old  crone  was  set  upon 
by  the  mob,  and  hooted  without  mercy.  The  old, 
ill-favoured  creature  would  at  such  times  lean 
out  of  her  hatch  door,  with  a  grotesque  red  cap 
on  her  head.  She  had  a  large  broad  nose,  heavy 
shaggy  eyebrows,  sunken  eyes,  and  lank  and 
leathern  cheeks;  her  forehead  wrinkled,  her 
mouth  wide,  and  her  look  sullen  and  unmoved. 
On  her  shoulders  was  thrown  a  dark  grey  striped 
frieze  with  black  patches,  which  looked  at  a  dis- 
tance like  flying  bats.  Suddenly  she  would  let 
her  huge  black  cat  jump  upon  the  hatch  by  her 
side,  when  the  mob  instantly  retreated  from  a 
superstitious  dread  of  the  double  foe. 

"  The  extraordinary  death  of  this  singular 
character  is  given  in  an  old  pamphlet.  "  Hun- 
dreds of  men,  women,  and  children  were  wit- 
nesses of  the  devil  entering  her  house,  in  his  very 
appearance  and  state,  and  that  although  his  return 
was    narrowly    watched    for,    he    was    not    seen 

121 


The   Book  of  Witches 

again;  and  that  Mother  Damnable  was  found 
dead  on  the  following  morning,  sitting  before  the 
fireplace  holding  a  crutch  over  it  with  a  teapot  full 
of  herbs,  drugs,  and  liquid,  part  of  which  being 
given  to  the  cat,  the  hair  fell  off  in  two  hours  and 
the  cat  soon  after  died;  that  the  body  was  stiff 
when  found  and  that  the  undertaker  was  obliged 
to  break  her  limbs  before  he  could  place  them  in 
the  coffin,  and  that  the  justices  have  put  men  in 
possession  of  the  house  to  examine  its  contents." 

"  Such  is  the  history  of  this  strange  being  whose 
name  will  ever  be  associated  with  Camden  Town, 
and  whose  reminiscence  will  ever  be  revived  by 
the  old  wayside  house  which,  built  on  the  site  of 
the  old  beldame's  cottage,  wears  her  head  as  the 
sign  of  the  tavern." 

Mother  Redcap  who,  to  judge  from  the  above 
account,  would  have  had  little  cause  of  complaint 
had  she  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the  executioner 
instead  of  those  of  the  devil,  was  more  fortunate 
than  many  other  London  witches.  Wapping, 
nowadays,  is  a  sufficiently  prosaic  spot.  In  the 
seventeenth  century  it  was  the  abode  of  one  Joan 
Peterson,  widely  famous  as  the  witch  of  Wapping. 
She  was  hanged  at  Tyburn  in  1652  on  evidence 
such  as  it  must  be  confessed  would  nowadays 
scarcely  satisfy  even  a  country  J. P.  trying  a 
poacher.  A  black  cat  had  alarmed  a  woman  by 
entering  a  house  near  Joan's  abode.  The  woman 
consulted  a  local  baker,  who  replied  that  "  on 

122 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

his  conscience  he  thought  it  was  old  Mother 
Peterson,  for  he  had  met  her  going  towards  the 
island  a  little  while  before."  He  clenched  the 
matter  when  giving  evidence  at  the  trial  by  de- 
claring that  although  he  had  never  before  been 
frightened  by  a  cat,  the  sight  of  this  one  had 
terrified  him  exceedingly.  After  which  no  reason- 
able jury  could  entertain  a  doubt  of  Mother 
Peterson's  guilt.  Fifty  years  before,  as  recorded 
in  Sinclair's  "  Satan's  Invisible  World  Dis- 
played," another  notorious  witch,  Mother  Jackson 
by  name,  was  hanged  for  having  bewitched  Mary 
Glover,  of  Thames  Street,  and  similar  cases  are 
common  enough  to  show  that  the  seventeenth-cen- 
tury Londoner  was  as  open  to  this  form  of  the 
devil's  assaults  as  he  now  is  to  others  more  subtle. 
It  is  true  that  some  professed  victims  of  the  black 
art  were  proved  to  be  impostors.  Thus  in  1574, 
as  we  learn  from  Stow,  Rachel  Pinder  and  Agnes 
Briggs  did  penance  at  Paul's  Cross  for  having 
pretended  to  be  diabolically  possessed,  vomiting 
pins  and  so  forth,  much,  no  doubt,  to  the  relief  of 
the  witch  accused  of  besetting  them. 

The  earliest  English  witch  to  attain  any  indivi- 
dual immortality  was  she  of  Berkeley,  who  differed 
from  most  of  her  successors  by  being  extremely 
well  off.  Possibly  because  of  this — for  even  in 
the  ninth  century  money  had  its  value — she  was 
accorded  Christian  burial,  and  the  prayers  of  the 
church  thereafter.     They  were  not,  however,  suffi- 

123 


The  Book  of  Witches 

cent  to  ensure  her  salvation,  for  under  the  very 
nose  of  the  priest  the  devil  carried  her  body  away 
from  where  it  lay  at  the  foot  of  the  high  altar. 
Although  sufficiently  historical  to  have  inspired 
one  of  Southey's  ballads,  the  Witch  of  Berkeley  is 
a  shadowy  figure  enough.  Another  who,  seeing 
that  she  was  acquitted,  does  not  perhaps  deserve 
to  be  here  considered  was  Gideon,  accused  of 
sorcery  by  Agnes,  wife  of  the  merchant  Odo,  in 
the  tenth  year  of  King  John's  reign.  Although 
less  popular  as  a  legendary  figure,  Gideon  has  a 
definite  claim  to  regard  in  that  her  trial  is  the 
first  to  be  found  in  English  legal  records — the 
"  Abbrevatio  Placitorum,"  quoted  by  Thomas 
Wright  in  his  narrative  of  sorcery  and  magic.  It 
is  satisfactory  to  know  that  Gideon,  having  passed 
through  the  ordeal  by  red-hot  iron,  was  acquitted 
in  due  course. 

A  famous  witch  was  Margery  Jourdemain, 
better  known  as  the  Witch  of  Eye,  who  gains  a 
reflected  halo  of  respectability  in  that  she  was 
burnt  at  Smithfield  in  1441  as  an  accomplice  of 
Eleanor  of  Gloucester,  elsewhere  referred  to.  The 
Duchess  of  Bedford,  charged  in  1478  with  hav- 
ing bewitched  Edward  IV.  by  means  of  a  leaden 
image  "  made  lyke  a  man  of  arms,  conteyning  the 
lengthy  of  a  mannes  finger,  and  broken  in  the 
myddes  and  made  fast  with  the  wyre,"  as  well  as 
the  unhappy  Jane  Shore,  come  under  the  heading 
of  political  offenders  against  whom  witchcraft  was 

124 


Some  Representative  English  Witches 

alleged  only  as  a  side  issue.  More  apt  to  our  pur- 
pose, in  that  she  was  charged  with  the  offence  of 
witchcraft  only,  and  for  it  condemned  to  death 
by  Henry  VIII.,  and  executed  at  Tyburn  in 
1534,  was  Elizabeth  Barton  of  Aldington,  better 
known  as  the  Fair  Maid  of  Kent.  It  is  true  that 
she  was  a  crazed  enthusiast,  suffering  from  a  re- 
ligious mania,  rather  than  a  witch,  and  that  she 
was,  further,  a  pawn  in  a  political  intrigue  whereby 
the  Catholic  party  endeavoured  to  influence  the 
King's  matrimonial  schemes. 

Mother  Demdyke,  of  Pendle  Forest,  in  Lan- 
cashire, immortalised  by  Harrison  Ainsworth  in 
"  The  Lancashire  Witches,"  is  elsewhere  referred 
to. 

Elizabeth  Sawyer,  the  Witch  of  Edmonton, 
though  during  her  life  gaining  only  local  fame, 
yet  achieved  the  posthumous  glory  of  providing 
Ford  and  Dekker  with  the  material  for  a  play.  In 
this,  indeed,  she  did  but  plagiarise  Mr.  Peter 
Fabell  of  the  same  town,  otherwise  known  as  the 
Merry  Devil  of  Edmonton,  who  there  lived  and 
died  in  Henry  VIII.'s  reign,  and  upon  whose 
pranks  was  founded  the  play  called  after  him, 
and  long  attributed  to  no  less  an  author  than 
Shakespeare.  But  whereas  Mr.  Fabell  was  a  sor- 
cerer of  no  mean  power,  in  that  he  successfully 
cheated  the  devil  and  died  in  his  bed,  poor  Eliza- 
beth was  no  more  than  a  common  witch,  and  as 
such  came  to  the  usual  end.     The  manner  of  her 

125 


The  Book  of  Witches 

death  in  1621  may  be  found  in  the  chap-book 
published  in  that  year  and  entitled,  "  The  Won- 
derfull  Discoverie  of  Elizabeth  Sawyer,  A  Witch 
late  of  Edmonton  :  Her  Conviction,  Condemna- 
tion and  Death  :  Together  with  the  relation  of 
the  Devil's  Accesse  to  her  and  their  Conference 
together.  Written  by  Henry  Goodcole,  Minister 
of  the  Word  of  God,  and  her  Continual  Visitor 
in  the  Gaol  of  Newgate." 


126 


CHAPTER  VII 

JHE     WITCH     OF     ANTIQUITY 

Such  zealous  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  century 
dogmatists  as  King  James  L,  the  Inquisitor 
Sprenger,  Jean  Bodin,  or  Pierre  de  Lancre  might 
have  found  it  difficult  to  put  forward  satisfactory 
proof  for  the  cause  in  which  they  were  briefed 
had  it  not  been  for  the  fortunate  existence  of 
one  quite  unimpeachable  witness — the  direct  com- 
mand in  the  book  of  Exodus,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live."  Probably  no  other  sen- 
tence ever  penned  has  been  so  destructive  to 
human  life  or  so  provocative  of  human  misery; 
certainly  it  has  provided  Saladin  with  the  excuse 
for  his  bitter  indictment  of  Christianity  as  being 
far  excellence,  as  based  upon  the  Old  Testament, 
the  religion  of  witchcraft.  To  which  he  adds  that 
Christianity,  now  grown  ashamed  of  its  former 
belief,  seeks  to  explain  it  away  by  the  suggestion 
that  the  Hebrew  word  "  chasaph  "  should  be 
translated,  not  as  "  witch,"  but  as  "  poisoner." 

It  is,  of  course,  as  true  as  it  was  natural  that 
Christian  writers  on  witchcraft  seized  eagerly  upon 

127 


The  Book  of  Witches 

definite  Biblical  authority  for  the  sin  they  were 
condemning.  Origen,  who  protests  against  literal 
interpretation  of  the  Bible,  is  inclined  to  ascribe 
Biblical  witchcraft  altogether  to  the  Devil,  basing 
his  theory  upon  the  tribulations  of  Job.  But  St. 
Augustine  needs  no  more  definite  proof  for  this 
variety  of  sin  than  the  Bible  denunciation, 
while  Luther  and  Calvin,  in  a  later  age,  are 
equally  definite.  At  the  same  time,  it  is  to  be 
remembered  that  the  cult  of  witchcraft  would 
certainly  have  existed  had  there  been  no  mention 
of  it  in  the  Bible  at  all.  It  is  as  universal,  as 
ubiquitous,  and  as  enduring  as  the  religious  in- 
stinct itself;  Christianity  did  not  invent  the 
witch,  it  did  but  improve  upon  her.  A 
Biblical  text  was  perhaps  the  most  convincing 
evidence;  failing  it,  early  Christian  Fathers  or 
late  Inquisitors  would  have  found  little  difficulty 
in  adducing  a  substitute.  Even  as  it  was, 
although  they  quoted  the  Bible — and  in  both  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  from  Genesis  to  Revela- 
tions, witchcraft  is  recognised  and  condemned — 
they  also  referred  with  equal  zest  to  the  great 
edifice  of  tradition  and  superstition  founded  upon 
the  struggles  after  celibacy  of  the  early  fathers 
and  their  relegation  of  all  pagan  rites  to  the 
realms  of  Black  Magic. 

The  Christians,  in  adopting  to  their  own  uses 
certain  pagan  rites  and  beliefs,  and  regarding  all 
the  rest  as  witchcraft  and  an  abominable  sin,  were 

128 


The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

but  following  the  example  of  their  predecessors, 
the  Jews.  Throughout  the  Old  Testament 
Jehovah  is  proclaimed  as  the  one  and  only  God, 
despite  the  backslidings  to  which  the  constant 
reiterations  of  "  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods 
but  Me  "  would,  in  the  absence  of  other  record, 
be  sufficient  witness.  The  deities  of  other  nations 
were  "  false  gods  "  and  idols,  being  regarded  by 
the  Jew  very  much  as  were  witches  and  sorcerers 
by  the  Christian.  Again  and  again  he  turned 
from  the  one  and  only  God  to  the  gods  of  the 
heathen,  just  as  the  early  Christian  was  wont  to 
help  himself  out  with  pagan  rites  when  his  new 
faith  failed  him,  a  course  of  action  which  of  late 
years  shows  signs  of  a  reviving  popularity.  Such 
being  the  case,  it  was  as  natural  that  the  great 
Jewish  rulers  should  denounce  to  the  furthest 
limits  of  their  vocabulary  those  who,  religiously 
and  politically,  were  undermining  a  theocratic 
government,  as  that  a  modern  Pope  should  hail 
the  Italian  King  accursed  who  seized  upon  the 
Patrimony. 

The  Jews  had  no  national  system  of  magic 
or  witchcraft.  Though  Abraham  migrated  to 
Canaan  from  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  the  God  of 
Abraham  was  sternly  opposed  to  those  beliefs  and 
rites  for  which  the  Chaldeans  have  ever  since 
been  famous.  These  they  partly  inherited  from 
that  earlier  Shumiro-Accadian  people  inhabiting 
the  region  between  the  lower  courses  of  the  Tigris 

129  K 


The  Book  of  Witches 

and  the  Euphrates,  whose  country  they  invaded 
some  forty  centuries  B.C.  Besides  peopling  the 
universe  with  good  and  evil  spirits,  and  having 
knowledge  of  the  arts  of  writing  and  of  metal- 
working,  the  Shumiro-Accadians  practised  sorcery 
and  magic  wherewith  to  conjure  evil  spirits,  re- 
serving prayers  in  the  more  ordinary  sense  of  the 
word  for  the  beneficent  gods.  At  the  coming  of 
the  Chaldeans,  the  old  religion  was  superseded 
by  the  worship  of  the  Sun-god  Bel,  whose  priests 
were  the  first  practising  astrologers.  Astrology, 
divination,  conjuration,  and  incantation  thus  all 
had  their  part  in  the  magico-religious  practices  of 
the  Chaldeans.  An  elaborate  system  of  demon- 
ology  provided  constant  menace  to  the  happiness 
of  the  poor  Chaldeo-Babylonian,  and,  very 
naturally,  by  degrees  he  established  a  counter 
influence  by  whose  aid  to  obtain  relief  from  his 
tormentors.  Most  potent  were  the  regular 
magicians,  w^ho,  with  elaborate  ritual  and  cere- 
mony, were  able  to  drive  out  the  demons  possess- 
ing the  worshipper.  Such  demons  were  con- 
trolled by  the  use  of  potions,  by  the  tying  of 
knots  wherewith  to  strangle  them,  or  by  such  in- 
cantations as  the  following  : — 

They  have  used  all  kinds  of  charms  to  entwine  me  as  with 

ropes,  .  .   . 
But  I,  by  command  of  Marduk,  the  lord  of  charms, 
By  Marduk  the  master  of  bewitchment, 
Both  the  male  and  the  female  witch, 

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The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

As  with  ropes  I   will  entwine, 

As  in  a  cage  I  will  catch, 

As  with  cords  I  will  tie, 

As  in  a  net  I  will  overpower, 

As  in  a  sling  I  will  twist, 

As  a  fabric  I  will  tear, 

With  dirty  water  as  from  a  well  I  will  fill, 

As  a  wall  throw  them  down. 

Side  by  side  with  the  regular  magicians  was  a 
vast  host  of  sorcerers  practising  without  elaborate 
ritual,  amongst  whom  witches  were  greatly  in  the 
ascendant.  These  same  Babylonian  and  Assyrian 
witches  were  as  efficient  as  they  were  unamiable. 
In  contradistinction  to  the  magician,  the  witch  was 
in  league  with  the  demons,  and  ably  assisted  them 
in  the  infliction  of  bad  dreams,  misfortune,  disease 
and  death  itself.  With  enthusiasm  worthy  of  a 
better  cause,  she  tore  her  victims'  hair  and 
clothes,  brought  about  delusions  or  lasting 
insanity,  destroyed  family  concord,  and  aroused 
hatred  between  lovers.  She  was  past-mistress  in 
the  use  of  the  evil  eye,  the  evil  mouth,  and  the 
evil  tongue,  of  effigies  and  magic  knots,  while  her 
imprecations  were  the  most  dreaded  of  all  her 
practices.  Of  the  witches  of  Babylon  we  are  told 
that  they  haunted  the  streets  and  public  places, 
beset  wayfarers,  and  forced  their  way  into  houses. 
Their  tongues  brought  bewitchment,  their  lips 
breathed  poison,  death  attended  their  footsteps. 
Whether  as  originators  or  adaptors  they  were 
extremely  proficient  in  that  method  of  enchant- 

131  K  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

ment  by  means  of  clay,  wood,  or  dough  figures, 
which  has  continued  as  among  the  most  familiar 
of  witch-arts  until  our  own  times,  and  they  were 
adepts  in  the  tying  of  witch-knots.  Naturally 
enough,  such  practices  gained  for  them  the  un- 
friendly attention  of  the  government,  but  it  is 
perhaps  significant  of  the  dread  inspired  by  theni 
that  although  the  law  provided  for  their  execution 
by  fire,  there  is  no  definite  proof  that  anything 
other  than  their  effigies  was  ever  actually  burnt. 

Considering  the  superstitions  amid  which  their 
great  forefather  had  been  brought  up,  it  was 
scarcely  surprising  that  the  monotheistic  ideal 
peculiar  to  the  Jews  should  have  suffered  occa- 
sional eclipses.  Nor  were  Chaldean  magic  and 
Persian  Zoroastrianism  alone  responsible  for  the 
Jewish  conception  of  witchcraft.  In  time  of 
famine  Abraham  and  his  wife  went  down  into 
Egypt,  just  as  did  his  descendants,  and  the 
Egyptian  magician  has  earned  for  himself  a  fame 
no  less  enduring  than  has  the  Chaldean.  Thot, 
who  revealed  himself  to  man  as  the  first  magician, 
was  their  divine  patron — and  it  is  significant  that 
he  also  first  taught  mankind  the  arts  of  writing 
and  of  music,  to  say  nothing  of  arithmetic,  geo- 
metry, medicine,  and  surgery.  This  divine 
schoolmaster  pointed  out  in  advance  days  of  ill- 
omen,  and,  his  magical  arts  making  him  master 
of  the  other  gods,  provided  counteracting 
remedies.     The    Egyptian    magician    interpreted 

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The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

dreams,  cured  demoniacal  possession,  and  was 
skilled  in  casting  nativities.  In  less  amiable 
mood,  he  could  send  nightmares,  harass  with 
spectres,  constrain  the  wills  of  men,  and  cause 
women  to  fall  victims  to  infatuations.  For  the 
composition  of  an  irresistible  charm  he  required 
no  more  than  a  drop  of  his  subject's  blood,  some 
nail-parings,  hair,  or  a  scrap  of  linen  from  his 
raiment — to  be  incorporated  in  the  wax  of  a  doll 
modelled  and  clothed  to  resemble  him  or  her. 
As  with  the  Babylonian  witch  and  her  mediaeval 
successors,  anything  done  to  the  effigy  was  suf- 
fered by  the  original.  Thot  also  taught  the 
magicians  how  to  divide  the  waters,  and  a 
pleasant  story  has  been  preserved  of  a  fair 
maiden  who  dropped  a  new  turquoise  ornament 
from  a  boat  into  the  river,  and,  appealing  in  her 
distress  to  an  amiable  magician,  was  consoled  by 
finding  it,  he  having  divided  the  waters  for  her, 
safe  and  sound  on  a  potsherd.  It  is  not  difficult 
to  trace  to  a  similar  origin  the  Jewish  legend  of  the 
Red  Sea  passage. 

Isis,  another  prominent  protector  of  witchcraft, 
was,  in  fact,  more  witch  than  goddess.  An  Egyp- 
tian formula  against  disease,  dating  from  about 
1700  B.C.,  commences,  "  O  Isis,  mistress  of  sor- 
ceries, deliver  me,  set  me  free  from  all  bad,  evil 
(red)  things.''  Red,  it  may  be  noted,  was  the 
colour  of  Set,  and  thus  of  evil.  Woman  was, 
indeed,  supposed  to  possess  more  completely  than 

^33 


The  Book  of  Witches 

man  the  qualities  necessary  for  the  exercise  of 
magic,  legitimate  or  otherwise.  She  saw  and 
heard  that  which  the  eyes  and  ears  of  man  could 
not  perceive ;  her  voice,  being  more  flexible  and 
piercing,  was  heard  at  greater  distances.  She 
was  by  nature  mistress  of  the  art  of  summoning 
or  banishing  invisible  beings.  The  "  great 
spouse,"  or  Queen,  of  Pharaoh  attained,  upon  her 
accession  to  such  rank,  magical  powers  above  the 
ordinary.  In  this  connection  we  find  another  con- 
ception of  the  witch  in  the  sequel  to  the  loss  of 
Pharaoh's  army  in  the  Red  Sea.  The  women  and 
slaves  of  the  drowned  warriors,  fearing  aggres- 
sions from  the  Kings  of  Syria  and  the  West, 
elected  as  their  queen  one  Dalukah,  a  woman 
wise,  prudent,  and  skilled  in  magic.  She  col- 
lected all  the  secrets  of  Nature  in  the  temples  and 
performed  her  sorceries  at  the  moment  when  the 
celestial  bodies  were  most  likely  to  be  amenable 
to  a  higher  power.  Whenever  an  army  set  out 
from  Arabia  or  Assyria  for  the  invasion  of  Egypt, 
the  Witch-Queen  made  effigies  of  soldiers  and 
animals  corresponding  in  numbers  to  its  strength, 
as  ascertained  by  her  spies.  These  she  caused  to 
disappear  beneath  the  ground — a  fate  which 
thereupon  befell  the  invaders  also. 

The  Egyptians  were  very  learned  in  the  con- 
coction of  love-charms,  spells,  and  philtres,  a 
branch  of  their  profession  which  we  may  suppose 
to  have  appealed  more  to  the  witch  than  to  the 

134 


The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

magician.  On  at  least  one  occasion  a  witch 
gained  a  notable  victory  over  a  male  competitor 
in  this  direction,  for  it  is  recorded  that  Prince 
Setnau,  familiar  from  his  birth  with  all  the  magical 
arts,  was  yet  bewitched  by  a  very  beautiful  woman 
named  Tabubu — an  occurrence  which,  if  not 
altogether  unique  in  history,  vouches  for  the 
potency  of  the  lady's  charms. 

The  use  of  love-philtres  was  common  among 
the  Jewish  women,  and  it  is  probable  that,  with 
other  magical  operations,  they  borrowed  it  from 
the  Egyptians.  Nevertheless,  Jewish  references 
to  Egyptian  magic  are  somewhat  scornful.  Thus, 
in  the  divination  of  Pharaoh's  dreams,  a  Jew 
triumphs  over  the  best  efforts  of  the  Court 
magicians.  When  the  Egyptian  sorcerers  cast 
down  their  rods  in  emulation  of  the  magic  powers 
exercised  by  Aaron,  their  rods  changed  into  ser- 
pents as  readily  as  did  his.  But  his  superiority 
was  made  manifest  by  the  fact  that  his  serpent 
devoured  all  the  rest.  So,  too,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
in  his  own  realm,  found  Daniel  and  his  three 
friends  more  than  able  to  hold  their  own  against 
the  local  magicians  and  astrologers. 

The  Jew,  then,  was  no  less  apt  in  magic  than 
were  his  contemporaries.  Where  it  differed  was 
that  it  was  only  legitimate  when  practised  in  the 
name  and  for  the  service  of  the  God  of  Abraham, 
any  attempt  towards  making  use  of  alien  rites  or 
deities  being  sternly  repressed. 

135 


The   Book  of   Witches 

The  Babylonian  captivity  served  to  strengthen 
and  extend  the  full-blooded  belief  in  a  compre- 
hensive system  of  demons  already  inherited  by 
the  Hebrews.  They  recognised  two  varieties  of 
evil  spirits — the  fallen  angels  and  those  who  were 
but  semi-supernatural.  These  latter  were 
again  divided  into  the  offspring  of  Eve  by 
certain  male  spirits  and  those  descended 
from  Adam  by  Lilith,  the  first  really  Jewish 
witch.  Nor  were  the  Jews  slow  to  test  the 
benevolence  of  such  beings  whenever  the 
severity  of  Jehovah  proved  irksome.  Saul 
banished  from  the  land  all  wizards  and  those 
who  had  familiar  spirits.  Nevertheless,  being  on 
one  occasion  afraid  of  the  Philistines,  and  unable 
to  obtain  favourable  assurances  from  Jehovah 
either  by  dreams,  by  Urim,  or  by  the  prophets, 
he  disguised  himself  and  came  by  night  to  the 
witch  of  Endor.  The  apparition  of  Samuel  has 
given  rise  to  much  speculation.  Wierus,  an  en- 
lightened sixteenth  century  writer,  though  a  firm 
believer  in  witchcraft  withal,  holds  that  the  Devil 
himself  took  the  form  of  Samuel  for  the  occasion. 
But  Wierus  is  essentially  humane,  and  his  contem- 
poraries held  much  less  charitable  views  of  the 
women  they  regarded  as  servants  of  Satan. 

Although  the  idea  of  a  personal  Devil  was 
familiar  to  the  Jews — as,  for  instance,  in  his  trial 
of  strength  with  Jehovah  for  the  allegiance  of 
Job — we  find  no  mention  of  his  having  entered 

136 


The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

into  compacts  with  witches  as  in  later  times.  On 
the  other  hand,  they  had  dealings  with  familiar 
spirits,  and,  as  was  natural  in  a  nation  distin- 
guished by  its  genius  for  prophecy,  they  excelled 
in  divination.  The  early  law  is  very  severe  on 
the  subject.  The  law-abiding  Jew  might,  indeed, 
attempt  to  unravel  the  future  so  long  as  he  con- 
fined his  investigations  to  legitimate  channels. 
These  included  dreams,  prophecies,  and  Urim 
and  Thummim,  two  stones  carried  in  the  pocket 
of  the  High  Priest's  ephod,  engraved  with  an 
affirmative  and  a  negative  respectively,  one  of 
which  being  taken  out,  the  message  upon  the  other 
represented  the  Divine  will.  All  these,  being  in 
connection  with  the  service  of  Jehovah,  were  per- 
missible. On  the  other  hand,  we  read  in  Leviticus 
that  "  a  man  also  or  a  woman  that  hath  a  familiar 
spirit  or  that  is  a  wizard  shall  surely  be  put  to 
death.  They  shall  stone  them  with  stones."  And 
again,  "  Regard  not  them  that  have  familiar 
spirits,  neither  seek  after  wizards  to  be  defiled  by 
them."  Saul  died  not  only  for  transgressing 
"  against  the  word  of  the  Lord,  which  he  kept 
not,"  but  also  for  asking  counsel  of  "  one  that 
had  a  famihar  spirit,  to  enquire  of  it."  His 
further  sin  would  seem  to  have  been  that  in  his 
perplexity  "  he  enquired  not  of  the  Lord." 

Manasseh  (about  the  eighth  century)  incurred 
condemnation  because  "  he  made  his  children  to 
pass  through  the  fire,"  practised  augury  and  sor- 

137 


The  Book  of  Witches 

eery,  used  enchantments,  "  and  dealt  with  them 
that  had  familiar  spirits  and  with  wizards."  Nor 
was  it  mitil  the  Lord  punished  him  by  causing  him 
to  be  carried  captive  to  Babylon  that  he  humbled 
himself  and  "  knew  that  the  Lord  He  was  God." 
Regarded  as  a  preventative,  this  form  of  punish- 
ment is  curious  enough,  seeing  that  the  daughters 
of  Babylon  are  vehemently  accused  of  the  very 
crime  for  which  Manasseh  was  sent  among  them. 
Isaiah  says,  in  no  doubtful  terms,  that  "  the 
daughters  of  Babylon  are  to  be  punished  for  the 
multitude  of  sorceries  and  enchantments  with 
which  they  have  laboured  from  their  youth."  And 
throughout  Jewish  history  the  influence  of  these 
Babylonian  witches  is  noticeable. 

Love-magic  was  practised  in  Israel  almost 
entirely  by  women,  and  many  of  the  Jewish 
feminine  ornaments  were  amatorial  charms. 
Indeed,  the  demand  for  charms  of  all  kinds  was 
as  great  among  the  monotheistic  Hebrews  as 
their  neighbours.  To  quote  one  example  out  of 
many,  a  charm  very  popular  with  Jewish  mothers 
against  Lilith,  the  witch  of  darkness,  much  feared 
by  women  in  travail  as  having  an  evil  propensity 
for  stealing  new-born  babes,  was  to  write  upon  the 
walls  the  names  of  three  angels,  Senoi,  Sensenoi, 
and  Semangelof. 

Despite  the  wide  sway  of  the  evil  and  the 
severity  of  the  laws  against  it,  spasmodically  en- 
forced  by    several   of   the   kings,    as   Saul   and 

138 


The  Witch  of  Antiquity 

Hezekiah,  there  are  no  definite  records  of  witch- 
persecutions  comparable  to  those  of  mediaeval 
Christianity  until  the  reign  of  King  Alexander 
Jannai,  in  the  first  century  B.C.  Between  79  and 
70  B.C.  Simon  ben  Schetach  caused  eighty  witches 
to  be  hanged.  After  the  birth  of  Christ  but  a 
few  instances  are  recorded,  although  the  Apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  waged  war  against  witchcraft  with 
considerable  energy.  Thus  by  virtue  of  his 
superior  powers  he  brought  about  the  blind- 
ness of  Elymas,  the  sorcerer  who  practised 
in  the  island  of  Paphos.  At  this  early  date  a 
distinction  was  made  between  the  witch  active  and 
those  involuntarily  possessed  of  evil  spirits,  a  dis- 
tinction too  fine  to  be  regarded  by  the  mediaeval 
Inquisitor.  Thus  the  maid  "  having  a  spirit  of 
divination  "  was  not  held  criminally  responsible 
for  her  powers.  Her  soothsaying  brought  her 
little  or  no  personal  gain,  and,  far  from  commit- 
ting voluntarily  "  the  abominable  sinne  of  witch- 
craft," she  was  dominated  by  a  spirit,  subsequently 
cast  out  by  Saint  Paul  by  means  less  drastic  than 
might  have  been  the  case  fifteen  centuries  later. 

It  is,  at  first  sight,  surprising  that  the  Chaldean, 
Egyptian,  or  Jewish  witch  should  have  conformed 
so  closely  to  the  type  familiarised  by  the  witch- 
mania  of  the  Middle  Ages.  If  we  remember,  how- 
ever, how  great  a  proportion  of  Christian  super- 
stitions are  directly  descended  from  Hebrew 
practices,  and  how  eagerly  those  who  made  it  their 

139 


The  Book  of  Witches 

life-work  to  harry  old  women  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  sought  BibHcal  precedent,  this  persistence 
in  type  becomes  natural  enough,  unique  though 
it  be.  The  conception  of  the  Power  who  guides 
the  universe  must  vary  according  to  human  con- 
ceptions of  what  composes  that  universe,  but  so 
long  as  we  are  afraid  of  the  dark  the  foundations 
upon  which  we  build  our  manifestations  of  evil 
need  vary  little. 


140 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   WITCH   IN    GREECE    AND   ROME 

Although  the  Christian  witch  was  the  direct 
descendant  of  the  Jewish,  there  were  yet  other 
branches  of  her  family  tree  not  without  their  in- 
fluence upon  her  final  development.  Chief  among 
them  were  the  great  witch  families  of  Greece  and 
Rome,  the  one  being  in  some  sense  a  development 
of  the  other  and  through  it  inheriting  more  than  a 
trace  of  Persian  blood. 

It  is  a  natural  feature  of  anthropomorphic  reli- 
gion that  from  a  few  representatives  of  the  more 
important  phases  of  human  existence  the  gods 
and  goddesses  tend  to  increase,  until  there  is 
hardly  a  department  of  human  activity  without  its 
presiding  deity.  As  there  are  kings  and  queens 
among  men,  so  there  will  be  sovereigns  among 
the  gods.  The  divine  king  will  have  his  officers, 
servants  and  warriors  just  as  do  those  earthly 
kings  who  worship  him.  The  personal  appear- 
ance of  the  god  differs  from  that  of  the  man  only 
in  degree,  his  connection  with  his  worshippers  is 
almost  undignified  in  the  closeness  of  his  inti- 

141 


The  Book  of  Witches 

macy.  He  suffers  the  same  passions,  commits 
the  same  crimes,  occasionally  aspires  to  the  same 
virtues ;  he  is,  in  a  word,  man  in  all  but  name  and 
divine  only  in  his  humanity. 

Among  no  people  was  this  tendency  more 
highly  and  minutely  developed  than  among  the 
Greeks.  Not  only  did  their  deities  adapt  them- 
selves to  every  phase  of  human  life ;  the  famous 
altar  to  "  the  Unknown  God,"  attests  the  limitless 
potentialities  of  the  Greek  Pantheon.  Were  all 
other  records  destroyed  we  could  exactly  recon- 
struct Grecian  life  and  feeling  from  the  doings 
of  the  Grecian  gods;  we  may  expect  to  find 
accordingly  such  a  phase  of  belief  as  witchcraft 
accurately  mirrored  in  Grecian  mythology.  And, 
accordingly,  the  witch  proves  to  have  her  definite 
niche  in  the  Greek  Pantheon.  Naturally  also,  she 
did  not  rank  among  the  greater  goddesses.  On 
the  one  hand  she  may  be  looked  for  as  the  de- 
generate form  of  a  goddess;  on  the  other  she 
corresponds  nearly  enough  to  the  heroic  demi- 
gods in  whose  veins  royal  blood  mingled  with 
divine  ichor. 

To  the  first  category  belongs  the  dire  and 
dreadful  form  of  Hecate.  Originally  an  ancient 
Thracian  divinity,  she  by  degrees  assumed  tHe 
attributes  of  many,  Atis,  Cybele,  Isis,  and  others. 
As  the  personification  of  the  moon,  whose  rays 
serve  but  to  increase  the  mystery  of  night,  she  was 
the  patroness  of  all  witches,  and  was  invoked  on 

142 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

all  their  most  baleful  undertakings.  Gradually 
she  grew  into  the  spectral  originator  of  all  those 
horrors  with  which  darkness  affects  the  imagina- 
tion. Hecate  it  was  who  first  cast  spells  and 
became  learned  in  enchantments;  Hecate  who  at 
the  approach  of  night  loosed  demons  and  phan- 
toms from  the  lower  shades.  Did  you,  hastening 
through  the  twilight,  meet  with  a  formless  mon- 
ster, hoofed  like  an  ass  and  radiating  a  stench 
incomparably  foul,  you  might  recognise  the  handi- 
work of  Hecate — designed,  perhaps,  to  punish 
you  for  having  neglected  to  offer  on  her  altars 
your  accustomed  sacrifice  of  dogs,  or  honey,  or 
black  lambs,  or  to  set  out  her  monthly  offering  of 
food — perhaps  only  in  wanton  exercise  of  her 
mysterious  power.  Did  the  mournful  baying  of 
your  kennelled  hounds  lend  point  to  the  gloomy 
solitude  of  night,  you  might  know  that  Hecate 
was  abroad  upon  the  earth  somewhere  at  hand, 
with  dead  souls  to  form  her  retinue.  Must  you 
pass  the  cross-roads,  or  visit  the  place  of  tombs, 
hasten,  and  especially  beware  the  spot  where  the 
blood  of  murdered  persons  has  been  spilt,  for  all 
such  places  are  Hecate's  chosen  haunts.  In  the 
gloom  and  darkness  she  did  her  grisly  work,  now 
brewing  philtres,  now  potions,  with  reptiles, 
human  flesh  or  blood  of  man  or  beast  that  had 
died  dreadful  deaths  for  her  ingredients. 

The  rites  of  Hecate  worship  varied  in  different 
parts  of  Greece;  she  plays  a  leading  part  in  the 

143 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Orphic  poems,  and  when  the  old  reUgion  began 
to  be  submerged  beneath  foreign  elements,  she 
yet  held  her  own  and  was  even  invoked  by  stran- 
gers. Her  statues  were  erected  before  the  houses 
and  at  the  cross-roads  in  Athens,  and  such 
Hecatea  were  consulted  as  oracles.  Her  personal 
appearance  was  the  reverse  of  attractive.  She 
had  either  three  bodies  or  three  heads,  according 
to  time  and  circumstance,  one  being  of  a  horse, 
the  second  of  a  dog,  the  third  of  a  lion.  Although 
usual,  this  habit  of  body  was  not  constant,  her 
magic  arts  allowing  her  to  take  whatever  form  she 
chose  as  freely  as  could  her  fellow  divinities. 
But  however  she  appeared  she  was  invariably 
hideous.  Nevertheless,  there  seem  to  have 
been  those  among  her  votaries  bold  enough 
to  desire  personal  interviews  with  her,  and  for 
their  benefit  she  provided  a  formula  of  her  own 
composition  and  of  such  power  that  she  was  con- 
strained to  obey  the  citation  of  those  availing 
themselves  of  it.  It  may  be  quoted  for  the  benefit 
of  those  readers  who  desire  her  closer  acquaint- 
ance. Make  a  wooden  statue  of  the  root  of  the 
wild  rue,  well-polished,  and  anoint  it  with  the 
bodies  of  little  common  lizards  crushed  into  a 
paste  with  myrrh,  storax,  and  incense.  Leave  it 
in  the  open  air  during  the  waxing  of  the  moon, 
and  then  (presumably  at  full  moon)  speak  as 
follows  : — '  Come,  infernal,  terrestrial  and  celes- 
tial  Bombo,  goddess  of  the  highways  and  the 

144 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

cross-ways,  enemy  of  the  light  who  walkest 
abroad  at  night,  friend  and  companion  of  the 
night,  thou  who  deHghtest  in  the  barking  of  dogs 
and  in  the  shedding  of  blood,  who  wanderest 
amongst  the  shades  and  about  the  tombs,  thou 
who  desirest  blood  and  who  bringest  terror  unto 
mortals — Gorgo,  Mormo,  moon  of  a  thousand 
forms,  cast  a  propitious  eye  upon  our  sacrifices." 
Then  take  as  many  lizards  as  Hecate  has  forms 
and  fail  not  to  make  a  grove  of  laurel  boughs,  the 
laurels  having  grown  wild.  Then,  having  ad- 
dressed fervent  prayers  to  the  image,  you  will 
see  her. 

Hecate,  who  became  the  mother  of  Scylla,  and, 
according  to  some  accounts  also  of  Medea  and  of 
Circe,  was  arch-mistress  of  the  knowledge  of 
herbs  and  simples,  more  especially  of  poisons. 
She  is  almost  more  typical  of  the  later  develop- 
ments of  the  witch  than  of  those  of  her  own  times. 
Hag-like  and  horrible,  she  worked  only  for  evil, 
inspiring  her  votaries  with  that  terror  which  she 
herself  personified.  Goddess  though  she  be,  she 
provides  a  poignant  illustration  of  one  charac- 
teristic of  the  Greek  Pantheon  which  it  shares  with 
no  other.  Its  gods  and  goddesses  are  always  a 
little  more  human  than  their  votaries,  more  prone 
to  human  weaknesses  if  not  to  human  virtues. 
Thus  Hecate  shows  herself  more  horrible  and 
terror-breeding  than  any  of  those  who  did  their 
best  to  model  themselves  upon  her.    Just  as  Mars 

145  L 


The  Book  of   Witches 

represented  the  soldier,  carried  to  his  logical  con- 
clusion, so  Hecate  represents  the  witch  concep- 
tion carried  to  its  furthest  limits — the  concen- 
trated essence  of  witchcraft. 

To  the  class  of  semi-divine  witches  belong 
those  of  Thessaly,  as  well  as  Medea  and  Circe, 
the  putative  daughters  of  Hecate,  from  whom  they 
learned  their  magic  arts.  Circe  was  assisted  by 
four  attendant  witches,  who  gathered  for  her  the 
herbs  wherewith  she  might  brew  such  potions  as 
turned  the  companions  of  Ulysses  into  swine. 
The  influence  of  Medea  was,  on  the  whole,  more 
benign.  She  cured  Hercules  of  madness,  and 
taught  the  Marubians  the  decidedly  useful  accom- 
plishment of  fascinating  and  subduing  venomous 
serpents.  Not  that  her  knowledge  of  ointments, 
poisonous  and  otherwise,  was  in  any  way  inferior 
to  that  of  her  sister.  Euripides  represents  her  as 
invoked  in  terms  almost  identical  with  those 
already  quoted  in  connection  with  Hecate.  The 
love-sick  maiden,  Simaetha,  in  the  second  Idyll 
of  Theocritus,  appeals  to  Hecate  to  "  make  this 
medicine  of  mine  no  less  potent  than  the  spells  of 
Circe,  or  of  Medea,  or  of  Perimede  of  the  golden 
hair." 

Equally  skilled  in  poison  were  the  witches  of 
Thessaly,  who  could,  moreover,  draw  down  the 
moon  out  of  the  sky  by  their  magic  songs  and 
philtres.  If  less  awful  than  Hecate,  their  pro- 
ceedings inspired  equally  little  confidence.    They 

146 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

were  addicted,  for  example,  to  such  practices  as 
tearing  off  with  their  teeth  flesh  from  the  faces 
of  the  dead,  for  the  concoction  of  their  spells.  To 
prevent  this  early  variant  of  body  snatching,  dead 
bodies  had  to  be  watched  by  night.  To  circum- 
vent the  watchers,  the  witches,  as  we  learn  from 
Apuleius,  took  the  form  of  dogs,  mice,  or  flies, 
so  that  the  guardians  of  the  dead  must  look 
neither  to  the  right  nor  to  the  left,  nor  even  wink 
while  on  duty. 

Nor  were  such  grisly  exploits  confined  to  Thes- 
saly,  for  in  Syria,  as  Marcassus  tells  us,  troops 
of  witches  haunted  the  battlefield  during  the 
night,  devouring  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  During 
the  day  they  took  the  shape  of  wolves  or  hyenas, 
thus  providing  a  link  with  the  more  common 
phases  of  lycanthropy.  These  same  witches  were 
definitely  human  beings,  as  distinct  from  spirits, 
and  it  was  comparatively  easy  for  anyone  who  so 
wished,  and  could  obtain  the  necessary  recipe, 
to  follow  their  example.  Such  magic  salves  were 
usually  composed  of  narcotics,  among  them  being 
aconite,  belladonna,  opium,  and  hyoscyamus, 
boiled  down  with  the  fat  of  a  little  child,  mur- 
dered for  the  purpose,  and  with  the  blood  of  a 
bat  added.  They  needed  careful  and  expert 
usage,  however,  lest  such  a  mischance  might  be- 
fall as  occurred  to  "  the  Golden  Ass,"  who,  seek- 
ing to  become  an  owl,  found  himself  to  be  no 
more  than  a  donkey. 

147  L  2 


The   Book  of   Witches 

While  the  Thessalian  witches  paid  more  atten- 
tion to  the  toxicological  aspect  of  Hecate's 
teaching,  the  pythons  exploited  one  no  less 
important — the  prediction  of  events  to  come. 
Every  prudent  Greek  consulted  the  oracle  at 
Delphi,  before  undertaking  anything  of  import- 
ance— the  oracle  displaying  equal  prudence  in 
the  non-committal  vagueness  of  her  replies. 
Theseus,  who,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  wished 
to  introduce  a  new  form  of  Government  in  Athens, 
sought  advice  thereon,  and  received  as  his 
answer : — 

Son  of  the  Pitthean  maid, 

To  your  town  the  terms  and  fates 

My  father  gives  of  many  states. 

Be  not  anxious  or  afraid. 

The  bladder  will  not  fail  to  swim 

On  the  waves  that  compass  him. 

To  Philip  of  Macedon,  again,  the  utterance  of 
the  Pythian  priestess  ran  : — 

The  Battle  on  Thermodon  that  shall  be 
Safe  at  a  distance  I  desire  to  see. 
Far  like  an  eagle  watching  in  the  air, 
Conquered  shall  weep,  and  conqueror  perish  there. 

That  even  oracles  were — and  perhaps  are — open 
to  human  influence  may  be  deduced  from  Demos- 
thenes' irreverent  suggestion  that  the  prophetess 
had  been  tampered  with  in  Philip's  favour. 

The  manner  of  delivering  an  oracle  doubtless 
148 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

gave  a  ritualistic  example  to  the  witches  of  later 
ages,  and,  as  such,  may  be  quoted.  After  the 
offering  of  certain  sacrifices,  the  priestess  took  her 
seat  on  a  tripod  placed  over  a  fissure  in  the 
ground  at  the  centre  of  the  temple.  From  this 
came  forth  an  intoxicating  gas  which,  when  she 
breathed  it,  caused  her  to  utter  wild,  whirling 
words.  These  were  interpreted  by  the  attendant 
priest  and  by  him  handed  to  the  applicant,  having 
been  first  written  down  in  hexameters  by  an  official 
poet.  Divination  in  Greece  thus  owed  as  much  to 
the  witch  as  to  the  goddess,  and  it  should  be 
noted  that,  in  the  case  of  the  Delphic  oracle  at 
any  rate,  the  priest  acted  as  go-between,  the 
Pythia  being  only  an  item  of  the  oracular 
machinery. 

The  Persian  wars  brought  new  influences  to 
bear  upon  Greek  religion  in  general  and  witch- 
craft in  particular.  With  Darius  and  Xerxes 
came  the  magic  practised  by  the  followers  of 
Zoroaster.  Pliny  has  it  that  Xerxes  was  accom- 
panied by  Osthanes,  a  writer  on  magic,  and  this 
statement,  whether  or  no  correct  in  itself, 
expresses  a  general  truth.  Later,  after  the  Greek 
irruptions  into  Persia  and  Assyria,  the  Chaldeans 
effected  a  peaceful  occupation  of  Greece  to  such 
effect  that  "  Chaldean  "  came  to  be  synonymous 
with  doctor,  magician,  or  sorcerer.  Like  those 
of  their  descendants  whose  advertisements  make 
the   fortunes   of   our  newspaper   proprietors   to- 

149 


The  Book  of  Witches 

day,  they  cured  sufferers  from  incurable  diseases, 
provided,  for  a  small  fee,  infallible  recipes  for 
making  money  quickly,  and  acted  as  mediators 
between  heaven  and  such  offenders  as  could  not 
approach  it  through  the  regular  channels  with  any 
hope  of  success.  Naturally,  also,  they  did  not 
neglect  such  a  popular  "  Hne  "  as  prophecy, 
sometimes  for  distinguished  clients,  as,  for 
example,  the  father  of  Euripides,  who  is  said  to 
have  consulted  a  Chaldean  as  to  his  son's  destiny. 
In  a  word,  they  took  the  place  of  quack-doctors, 
palmists,  "  get-rich-quickly  "  colleges,  and  the 
various  other  practitioners  in  allied  branches  of 
swindling,  whose  operations  to-day  are  generally 
hailed  as  remarkable  instances  of  American 
"  cuteness  "  and  originality. 

That  the  Greek  witch  of  the  older  school  should 
be  powerfully  influenced  by  such  innovators  was 
natural  enough,  the  more  so  that  in  Chaldea 
women  took  a  foremost  part  in  practising  the 
more  evil  kinds  of  magic.  Accordingly,  we  may 
accept  the  date  of  the  Persian  Wars  as  that  in 
which  commenced  a  change  in  the  whole  char- 
acter of  Grecian  witchcraft.  The  witch  became 
less  terrible  in  that  she  was  less  spiritual,  but  more 
pernicious  in  that  she  dabbled  more  with  material 
evil.  Hecate  was  a  sufficiently  awesome  figure, 
but  her  terrors  were  more  or  less  impartial  in 
their  scope,  and  might  affect  one  man  as  well  as 
another,  did  he  happen  to  come  into  contact  with 

150 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

them.  The  witch  of  later  times  concentrated  her 
malignancy  upon  a  particular  object,  and  thus 
became  the  apt  instrument  of  private  vengeance 
and  a  force  definitely  detrimental  to  social  weal. 

Yet  another  powerful  influence  upon  Greek 
magic  was  exerted  by  Egypt.  Witchcraft  and 
astrology  after  the  Egyptian  method  were  held 
in  as  high  respect  as  were  those  of  the  Chaldean 
convention,  and  Nectanebus,  the  last  native  King 
of  Egypt  (about  350  B.C.),  was  acknowledged  in 
Hellas  as  the  most  redoubtable  of  the  magicians. 
He  was  an  adept  in  the  use  of  waxen  images,  and 
among  those  to  whom  he  sent  dreams  was  Philip 
of  Macedon. 

Thus  with  the  gradual  rise  of  astrology  in 
Greece  and  the  decay  of  the  old  religion  a  state 
of  things  arose  very  similar  to  what  is  even  now 
taking  place — the  nations  of  the  East  coming 
under  the  influence  of  Grecian  culture,  and  in 
return  providing  her  with  new  cults  and  crazes, 
one  more  fantastic  than  the  other,  but  all  seized 
upon  with  equal  avidity  by  the  hungry  Hellenic 
intellect,  craving  always  for  some  new  thing.  From 
comparatively  simple  beginnings  Greek  witch- 
craft added  always  to  its  complexity  until  it  in- 
cluded everything  popularly  associated  with  the 
name,  including  a  full  understanding  of  hallu- 
cinations, dreams,  demoniacal  possession, 
exorcism,  and  divination,  the  use  of  wax 
images  and  useful  poisons,  mostly  from  Eastern 

151 


The  Book  of  Witches 

sources,  and  with  them  a  very  nice  understanding 
of  philtres.  A  good  example  of  a  love  charm  is 
to  be  found  in  Theocritus,  writing  in  the  first 
decades  of  the  third  century  B.C.  Among  the 
charms  of  which  the  heroine  of  his  idyll  avails 
herself  to  bring  about  the  return  of  her  faithless 
lover  are  laurel-leaves,  bright  red  wool,  and  witch- 
knots — this  last  a  distinctively  Babylonian  prac- 
tice. The  charm  has  a  recurrent  refrain  of 
"  My  magic  wheel,  bring  back  to  me  the  man  I 
love."  Barley  grains  must  then  be  scattered  in 
the  fire  while  the  following  spell  is  intoned  : — 

'Tis  the  bones  of  Delphis  (or  another)  I  am  scattering. 

Delphis  troubled  me,  and  I  against  Delphis  am  burning 
this  laurel.  Even  as  it  crackles  loudly,  when  it  has  caught 
the  flame,  and  suddenly  is  burned  up,  and  we  see  not  even 
the  dust  thereof,  lo  !  even  thus  may  the  flesh  of  Delphis 
waste  in  the  burning. 

Even  as  I  melli  this  wax,  with  the  god  to  aid,  so  speedily 
may  he  by  love  be  molten. 

Three  times  do  I  pour  libations,  and  thrice  my  Lady 
Moon,  I  speak  this  spell.  Be  it  with  a  friend  he  lingers, 
be  it  with  a  leman  that  he  lies,  may  he  as  clean  forget 
them  as  Theseus  of  old  did  utterly  forget  the  fair-tressed 
Ariadne. 

Coltsfoot  is  an  Arcadian  weed  that  maddens  on  the  hills 
the  young  stallions  and  fleet-footed  mares  :  Ah,  even  as 
these  may  I  see  Delphis. 

This  fringe  from  his  cloak  Delphis  has  lost,  that  now  I 
shred  and  cast  into  the  flame.   .   .   . 

Lo,  I  will  crush  an  eft,  and  a  venomous  draught  to- 
morrow I  will  bring  thee. 

But  now,  Thestylis,  take  these  magic  herbs  and  secretly 

152 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

smear  the  juice  on  the  jambs  of  his  gate — and  spit  and 
whisper,  'Tis  the  bones  of  Delphis  that  I  smear. 

When  first  I  saw  Delphis  I  fell  sick  of  love,  and  con- 
sulted every  wizard  and  every  crone,  &c.,  &c. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  detailed  account  of  prac- 
tices identical  with  those  such  as  subsequently 
became  the  object  of  fierce  persecutions — the  use 
of  effigies,  of  magic  herbs,  the  burning  of  some 
substance  while  calling  the  name  of  the  person 
to  be  influenced,  the  using  of  a  fragment  of  his 
personal  belongings  to  his  detriment,  the  con- 
sulting with  "  crones  "  for  the  satisfaction  of  love- 
cravings.  It  was,  however,  too  closely  related  to 
religion  for  there  to  be  any  continuous  expression 
of  unfavourable  public  opinion.  At  the  same 
time,  laws  existed  against  it,  subsequently  to  find 
an  echo  in  Roman  legislation.  Theoris,  "  the 
Lemnian  woman,"  as  Demosthenes  calls  her,  was 
publicly  tried  in  Athens  and  burned  as  a  witch. 
Demoniacal  possession  and  exorcism  were  be- 
lieved in  at  least  as  early  as  330  B.C.,  in  which 
year  Demosthenes  refers  to  them  in  an  oration. 
His  feeling  towards  the  practice  of  exorcism  may 
be  deduced  from  his  reproaching  ^schinus  as 
being  the  son  of  a  woman  who  gained  her  living 
as  an  exorcist.  Plato,  in  the  Laws,  decrees  : — "  If 
any  by  bindings-down  or  allurements  or  incanta- 
tions or  any  such-like  poisonings  whatever  appear 
to  be  like  one  doing  an  injury,  if  he  be  a  diviner 
or  interpreter  of  miracles,  let  him  be  put  to  death." 

153 


The  Book   of  Witches 

But  despite  such  minor  inconveniences,  the 
Greek  witch  had  Httle  to  fear  in  the  way  of  per- 
secutions, so  that  her  mediaeval  successors  might 
well  have  looked  back  to  the  days  of  ancient 
Hellas  as  their  Golden  Age,  alike  spiritually  and 
materially. 

If  the  Greeks,  who  recognised  no  predecessors 
in  the  possession  of  their  country,  yet  imported  so 
much  of  their  witchcraft  from  abroad,  it  is  little 
to  be  wondered  at  that  the  Romans,  by  their  own 
account  foreign  settlers  in  Italy,  should  have  done 
so.  Unlike  those  of  Greece,  Roman  legends  pro- 
vide a  definite  beginning  for  Rome  itself.  The 
city  was  founded  by  a  foreigner.  What  more  likely 
than  that  he  should  bring  with  him  the  customs, 
cults,  and  superstitions  of  his  own  country. 

Granting  that  the  pious  ^neas  ever  existed,  we 
may  also  suppose  that  he  was  responsible  for  the 
Roman  tendency  in  things  magical.  Of  Greek 
magic  he  would  have  learned  enough — and  to 
spare — in  the  long  ten  years'  warring  on  the  plains 
of  Ilium.  From  Dido  also  he  might  well  have 
learned  something.  Virgil  himself  was  by  popu- 
lar report  familiar  with  all  the  laws  of  witchcraft, 
and  Virgil  tells  us  of  Dido's  acquaintance,  if  not 
with  witchcraft,  at  least  with  a  witch  of  unques- 
tioned eminence.  Half-priestess,  half-enchan- 
tress, she  could  cause  rivers  to  run  backwards, 
to  say  nothing  of  knowing  the  most  secret  thoughts 
of  men.     Certainly  if  ^neas  wished  to  introduce 

154 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

a  reliable  system  of  witchcraft  into  his  adopted 
country,  he  could  have  gone  to  no  better  in- 
structress. 

As  in  Greece,  so  in  Rome,  the  personal  char- 
acter of  the  witch  was  identical  in  some  respects 
with  that  of  the  goddess,  so  as  to  be  frequently 
indistinguishable.  Egeria,  the  friend  and  coun- 
sellor of  Numa,  was  the  first  witch  altogether 
worthy  of  the  name.  The  Vestal  Virgins  were 
also  possessed  of  certain  magical  powers.  An 
old  French  authority  disposes  of  them  sum- 
marily as  thorough-going  servants  of  Satan,  his 
zeal  outrunning  his  sense  of  chronological  fitness. 
He  adds  that  when  Tuscia  was  accused  of  having 
broken  her  vow  of  chastity,  Satan  assisted  her  to 
prove  her  innocence  by  carrying  water  in  a  sieve — 
an  expedient  which  would  have  certainly  caused 
her  to  be  burnt  two  thousand  years  later. 

Like  the  pythoness  of  Greece,  the  Roman  sibyl 
was  priestess  as  well  as  witch.  The  existence  of 
the  famous  Sibylline  books  presupposes  culture 
above  the  ordinary;  she  was  also  a  student  of 
medicine,  and,  in  later  times,  more  particularly 
of  poisons.  This  latter  art  became  in  time 
a  fashionable  craze,  as  we  may  gather  from  the 
many  laws  enacted  against  poisoners,  and  Livy, 
in  common  with  many  other  male  writers,  believes 
that  poisoning  and  superstition  alike  originated 
with  women.  He  also,  descending  to  particulars, 
relates  how  Publicia  and  Licinia  divorced  their 

^S5 


The  Book  of  Witches 

husbands  expeditiously  by  poison,  two  instances 
out  of  many  quoted  by  Latin  writers. 

In  the  comprehensive  provisions  of  the  Laws 
of  the  Twelve  Tables  drawn  up  by  the  Duumvirs 
in  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  witchcraft  is  not  over- 
looked. 

He  shall  be  punished  who  enchants  the  corn ; 
Do  not  charm  the  corn  of  others ; 
Do  not  enchant, 

are  among  some  of  its  injunctions. 

Roman  morality  being  enforced  upon  social 
rather  than  religious  grounds,  witchcraft  was  for- 
bidden only  in  so  far  as  it  was  considered  a  per- 
nicious influence  within  the  State.  Even  in  later 
times,  when  various  kinds  of  magic  were  pro- 
hibited, magical  rites  for  curing  diseases  and 
protecting  the  harvest  from  hail,  snow,  or  tempest 
were  not  only  allowed,  but  even  encouraged. 
The  Lex  Cornelia  de  Sicariis  et  Veneficis  pro- 
vided against  offering  sacrifice  in  order  to  injure 
a  neighbour.  The  maleficent  sorcerer  could  be 
burned  alive,  and  those  who  consulted  him  or  her 
were  liable  to  crucifixion.  The  possession  of 
magical  books  was  made  criminal,  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  love-philtres  was  punishable  by 
labour  in  the  mines,  or,  in  the  case  of  persons  of 
rank,  by  a  fine.  This  contrasts  with  the  earlier 
laws,  which  were  interpreted  in  a  far  more  liberal 
spirit  and  only  enforced  in  extreme  cases. 

156 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

Already  in  the  early  days  of  the  Laws  of  the 
Twelve  Tables,  Greek  influence  on  Roman  witch- 
craft was  noticeable — it  increased  in  proportion 
as  Greek  thought  extended  its  sway  over  the 
Roman  mind.  By  way  of  Greece  also,  as  well 
as  through  independent  channels,  Oriental  magic 
found  its  way  to  Rome,  where  the  wisdom  of  the 
Egyptians  was  held  in  as  high  regard  as  in  Greece 
itself.  By  the  time  of  Marius,  when  the  Romans 
had  come  into  direct  relations  with  the  East, 
Chaldeans,  sacrificers  and  interpreters  of  the 
Sibylline  books  positively  swarmed  in  the  city, 
while  the  use  of  love-philtres  and  waxen  images 
was  become  among  the  commonplaces  of  every- 
day life. 

How  early  Diana,  whose  close  connection  with 
the  moon  places  her  on  a  par  with  Hecate,  came 
to  be  regarded  as  queen  of  the  witches  may  be 
doubted;  later  Italian  legends  and  customs  are 
unanimous  in  according  her  that  questionable 
honour.  That  must  at  least  be  a  late  conception 
which  regards  her  as  a  constant  visitor  to  the 
Witches'  Sabbath,  along  with  her  daughter 
Herodias  !  Many  such  legends  are  still  current  in 
Tuscany,  where,  in  common  with  other  parts  of 
Italy  and  Europe,  Diana  was  worshipped  long 
after  Christianity  was  nominally  supreme.  The 
Italian  "  strege  "  are  the  direct  descendants  of 
the  Latin  "  striges,"  who  took  their  name  from  a 
bird  of  ill-omen  that  flies  by  night,  the  screech- 
es? 


The  Book  of   Witches 

owl,  and  witchcraft  is  still  known  to  its  votaries  as 
"  la  vecchia  religione,"  while  actual  belief  in  the 
old  gods  still  survives  in  one  form  or  other  in 
many  parts  of  the  Peninsula. 

It  may  here  be  noted  that  Herodias'  father  is 
sometimes  said  to  have  been  no  other  than 
Lucifer.  She  also  appears  under  the  name  of 
Aradia.  Diana  sends  her  to  sojourn  for  a  time 
on  earth  : — 

Thou  must  go  to  earth  below 

To  be  a  teacher  unto  women  and  men 

Who  would  fain   study   witchcraft. 

And  thou  shalt  be  the  first  of  witches, 

And   thou  shalt  teach   the  art  of   poisoning-, 

And  thou  shalt  teach  how  to  ruin  the  crops  of  a  rich 

peasant. 
How  to  be  revenged  upon  a  priest. 
Double  the  harm   and  do  it   in  the  name   of   Diana, 

Queen  of  Witches  all. 

And  Aradia  taught  mortals  : — 

To  bless  or  curse  with  power  friends  or  foes, 

To  converse  with  spirits. 

To  find  hidden  treasure  in  ancient  ruins, 

To   conjure  the  spirits    of  priests    who   died    leaving 

treasure, 
To  understand  the  voice  of  the  wind, 
To  change  water  into  wine, 
To  divine  with  cards. 
To  show  the  secrets  of  the  hand, 
To  cure  diseases. 
To  make  the  ugly  beautiful, 
To  tame  wild  beasts. 

158 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and  Rome 

Little  cakes  of  meal,  salt,  honey  and  water  are 
still  made  in  the  shape  of  Diana's  horned  moon, 
and  are  baked  after  an  incantation  to  the  goddess. 

There  are,  of  course,  earlier  indications  than 
these  of  Diana's  patronage  of  witchcraft.  Thus 
Horace,  in  his  Ode  to  Canidia,  written  in  the  first 
century  B.C.,  puts  these  words  into  the  mouth  of 
Canidia,  the  witch  : — 

Oh,  night  and  Dian  who  with  true 
And  friendly  eyes  my   purpose  view, 
And  guardian  silence  keep  whilst   I 
My  secret  orgies  safely  ply. 
Assist  me  now,  now  on  my  foes 
With  all  your  wrath  celestial  close. 

In  the  same  ode  Horace  details  many  witch- 
customs,  which  serve  to  mirror  the  witch  super- 
stitions of  the  time  : — 

Canidia  with   dishevelled   hair, 
And  short  crisp  vipers  coiling  there 
Beside  a  fire  of  Colchos   stands 
And  her  attendant  hags  commands. 

For  her  fire  she  makes  use  of  fig-trees  torn 
from  dead  men's  sepulchres,  cypress,  eggs  rubbed 
over  with  the  envenomed  gore  of  "  filthy  toads," 
screech-owl's  plumes,  evil  herbs,  and  fleshless 
bones  snatched  by  a  witch  from  the  jaws  of  starv- 
ing dogs.  The  smell  from  such  cookery  must 
have  been  deadly  enough  in  itself  to  kill  any 
number  of  victims,  even  though  it  does  not  alto- 
gether explain   why  she  bites   her   long,   sharp, 

159 


The  Book  of   Witches 

unpared    thumb-nail    while   brewing   her    deadly 
potion. 

However  universal  in  its  appeal,  love  was  by 
no  means  the  only  disease  for  which  witchcraft 
provided  its  remedy.  According  to  Cato,  for 
example,  dislocation  of  a  joint  could  be  cured  by 
the  utterance  of  the  following  charm  : — 

Motas,  danata,  daries,  dardaries,  astataries. 

To  which  Pliny  adds  that  it  must  be  used  in  con- 
junction with  split  reeds,  a  prudent  suggestion 
enough.  From  him  also  we  may  learn  particulars 
of  other  charms  in  common  use.  Love-philtres 
were  composed  of  wild  parsnip  or  mandrake, 
while  the  external  application  of  asses*  fat  mixed 
with  gander  grease  was  a  means  of  making  cer- 
tainty more  sure.  Amateur  gardeners  with  a  taste 
for  early  rising  may  be  interested  to  know  of  a 
cure  for  the  caterpillar  pest : — A  woman  (pre- 
sumably the  gardener's  wife)  is  to  walk  at  a  par- 
ticular season  round  the  tree  affected  before  sun- 
rise, ungirt  and  barefoot.  And  so  on,  a  remedy 
being  provided  for  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to. 
The  Emperors  held  widely  divergent  views  on 
the  matter  of  witchcraft.  Augustus,  realising  its 
hold  upon  the  popular  imagination,  collected 
the  verses  of  the  sibyls  from  Samos,  Troy, 
Africa,  and  elsewhere,  and  ordered  them  to  be 
submitted  to  the  prefects  of  the  city,  there  to  be 
judged  and  reported  on  by  fifteen  very  learned 

1 60 


The  Witch  in  Greece  and   Rome 

men.  During  the  latter  days  of  Pagan  Rome 
there  was  a  marked  revival  of  witchcraft,  Marcus 
Aurelius  and  Julian  setting  the  example  by  their 
patronage.  The  earlier  Christian  Emperors  re- 
vived the  old  laws  against  it,  but  diverted  them 
to  attack  the  old  religion.  The  secret  magic  con- 
demned by  the  Duumvirs  was  by  them  extended 
to  cover  the  whole  system  of  paganism.  Almost 
immediately  after  his  conversion  Constantine 
decreed  that  any  haruspex  (diviner)  entering  a 
citizen's  house  with  the  intention  of  celebrating 
his  rites  should  be  burned  alive,  while  the  pro- 
perty of  his  employer  should  be  confiscated  and 
his  accuser  rewarded.  The  Emperor  showed 
that  he  was  in  earnest  by  ordering  the  execution 
of  one  of  his  favourites  for  having  caused  bad 
weather  and  prevented  his  corn-traffic  with  Con- 
stantinople. It  was,  nevertheless,  declared  some 
two  years  later  that  the  Emperor  had  no  desire 
to  prohibit  such  magical  rites  as  cured  disease  or 
prevented  bad  weather.  In  the  reign  of  his  suc- 
cessor, Constantius,  any  person  accused  of  witch- 
craft was  liable  to  be  put  to  torture.  Proven  sor- 
cerers were  ordered  to  be  thrown  to  wild  beasts 
or  crucified,  while,  if  they  persisted  in  denying 
their  offence,  their  flesh  was  to  be  torn  from  their 
bones  with  iron  hooks.  This  edict  also  differen- 
tiated between  Black  and  White  Magic;  magic 
charms  being  permitted  as  remedies  for  drought, 
disease,  storms,  and  the  like. 

i6i  M 


The   Book  of  Witches 

Julian  the  Apostate,  perhaps  not  unnaturally, 
regarded  sorcery  with  a  more  favourable  eye,  but 
later  emperors  showed  themselves  always  more 
inimical.  Valentian  added  impious  prayers  and 
midnight  sacrifices  to  the  list  of  things  forbidden; 
under  Theodosius  every  detail  of  pagan  worship 
was  included  under  the  heading  of  magic,  and 
as  such  rigorously  forbidden.  In  the  reign  of 
Honorius,  the  Sibylline  verses  collected  by 
Augustus  were  suppressed.  The  Codex  Jus- 
tinianus  devotes  a  whole  title  to  witchcraft. 

The  history  of  the  Roman  witch  is  thus  pro- 
phetic of  that  of  her  Christian  successor.  So  long 
as  she  was  subject  to  the  civil  power  alone  she 
suffered  little  interference  from  the  State,  but  as 
soon  as  she  aroused  the  jealous  attention  of  the 
more  orthodox  interpreters  of  the  supernatural, 
her  doom  was  sealed.  We  are  apt  to  boast  great 
things  of  the  increase  of  knowledge  in  our  time, 
and  to  instance  the  decay  of  superstition  in  evi- 
dence, but,  were  a  sudden  religious  revival  to 
take  place  at  all  comparable  to  the  birth-throes 
of  early  Christianity  or  the  Reformation,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  we  should  not  find  a  belief  in 
the  wicked  prowess  of  the  witch  revive  along  with 
it,  and  possibly  our  spiritual  pastors  and  masters 
among  the  first  to  attack  it  with  temporal  weapons. 
It  is  difficult  to  see  how  they  could  logically 
refrain. 


162 


CHAPTER  IX 

FROM  PAGANISM  TO  CHRISTIANITY 

Seeing  that  it  affects  ourselves  so  considerably, 
we  are  in  the  habit  of  proclaiming  the  introduction 
of  Christianity  as  the  greatest  revolution  in  his- 
tory— a  claim  which  will  be  more  capable  of  de- 
monstration when  a  few  more  thousand  years 
have  passed,  and  a  few  more  religions  have  waxed 
and  waned.  At  least,  the  mind  of  the  cultured 
"  Christian  "  of  to-day  varies  little  in  its  outlook 
— save  in  so  far  as  it  is  affected  by  modern  material 
discoveries — from  that  of  the  cultured  "  Pagan  " 
of  Imperial  Rome,  much  less,  indeed,  than  do 
either  of  them  from  the  earnest  Early  Christian. 
The  ovine  tendency  of  human  nature  makes  it 
inevitable  that  a  few  sincere  believers — whatever 
their  belief — will  always  attain  a  comet-like  tail 
of  followers,  hypnotised  by  their  earnestness,  and 
themselves  understanding  very  little  about  it. 
However  it  may  have  been  with  the  small  band 
of  early  Christians — whose  belief  was  given 
reality  by  iheir  sufferings  in  its  cause — one  may 
be    sure    that    the    ideas    of    the    sixth    century 

163  M    2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Christian  in  the  village  street  upon  Heaven,  Hell, 
and  their  denizens,  differed  only  in  the  change  of 
a  few  names,  and  the  addition  of  some  intoler- 
ance from  those  of  his  pagan  ancestor  six  cen- 
turies before.  His  spiritual  advisers  bade  him 
worship  the  names  of  Christ,  St.  John,  and 
St.  Peter,  in  place  of  Apollo,  Mercury,  or 
Mars,  and  he,  troubling  his  head  about  very  little 
but  his  means  of  daily  livelihood,  accepted  the 
change  without  demur.  Meanwhile  his  mind — 
such  as  it  was— worked  along  its  old  lines.  As 
in  all  great  religious  movements,  we  find  no 
sudden  or  violent  change — except,  of  course,  in 
individual  cases — the  older  ideas  were  aban- 
doned, in  name,  though  only  very  slowly,  and 
the  change  from  Diana  to  Christ,  so  far  as  it 
affected  the  great  bulk  of  worshippers,  was 
mentally  imperceptible. 

There  were  many  Christians  before  Christ,  just 
as  there  were  many  pagans  after  the  death  of 
Paganism.  For  centuries  the  new  ideas,  after- 
wards called  Christian,  had  been  fermenting  in 
the  minds  of  thoughtful  pagans.  The  spirit  of 
the  age  called  for  their  crystallisation  in  a  leader 
and  the  call  of  the  West  again  received  its  answer 
from  the  East.  But  just  as  Naaman,  a  believer  in 
the  God  of  Israel,  was  yet  permitted  to  bow  down 
in  the  house  of  Rimmon — or  as  the  theory  and 
practice  of  modern  Socialism  are  time  after  time 
directly  contrary — so,  save  for  martyrs  and  en- 

164 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

thusiasts — the  Tolstoys  of  their  age — the  general 
public  accepted  Christianity  as  filling  up  awkward 
gaps  in  their  earlier  beliefs  rather  than  as  super- 
seding them  altogether. 

Roman  witchcraft — continually  reinforced 
from  the  Orient — grew  in  importance  as  faith  in 
the  greater  gods  decreased.  Frowned  upon  by 
the  police,  as  being  contrary  to  public  order,  it  was 
thus  liable  to  be  confounded  with  Christianity — 
which  was  forbidden  on  similar  grounds  — 
both  alike  being  practised  in  secret  and  penalised 
if  brought  too  prominently  into  public  notice. 
Christianity,  as  being  the  more  aggressive,  was 
more  severely  repressed — and  was  accordingly 
destined  to  more  success.  And  it  was  reserved 
for  the  successful  Christian  to  prove  upon  his  for- 
mer companions  in  misfortune  the  utter  useless- 
ness  of  persecution.  Just  as  we  may  thank  the 
pagan  persecutor  that  we  now  live  in  the  Christian 
era,  so  the  mediaeval — and  modern — witch  owed 
much  of  her  existence  to  the  persevering  efforts 
of  the  early  Christian  towards  the  suppression  of 
witchcraft  and  the  witch.  It  was  natural — and 
indeed  praiseworthy — that  the  prominent  features 
of  paganism  should  be  relegated  to  the  realms  of 
darkness  by  the  successors  to  the  pagan  empire — 
the  god  of  one  religion  inevitably  becomes  the 
devil  of  its  supplanter.  But  whereas  it  was  easy 
enough  to  lump  together  satyr,  faun,  centaur  and 
siren,  as  varieties  of  demon,  the  witch  was  on  a 

165 


The  Book  of   Witches 

different  footing.  She  really  existed,  for  one 
thing — in  so  far  as  that  she  was  of  flesh  and  blood 
at  any  rate — and  she  exercised  more  personal 
functions  than  any  number  of  divinities.  Every- 
one was  ready  to  acclaim  reforms  which  did  not 
interfere  with  his  own  comfort — and  the  witch  was 
a  fireside  necessity.  She  was  family  doctor, 
lawyer,  and  spiritual  director — and  payer-off  of 
your  old  scores  to  boot — a  factor  in  your  life  the 
loss  of  which  could  be  compensated  by  no  amount 
of  religion.  Also  she  stood  for  tradition,  "  the 
good  old  times,"  the  respectability  of  unchanging 
conservatism.  Christianity — novel  and  icono- 
clastic— might  make  head  among  the  inconstant 
townsfolk,  always  ready  for  some  new  thing;  the 
provinces,  the  village,  the  lonely  farmhouse  or 
the  fishing  hamlet  clung  tenaciously  to  what  had 
been  good  enough  for  their  grandfathers — as, 
indeed,  they  have  been  doing  ever  since. 

Nevertheless,  from  the  great  cities  the  creed  of 
Christ  spread  slowly  to  the  villages — suffering 
many  modifications  before  it  reached  them.  De- 
livered straight  from  the  lips  of  a  Church  father, 
Christian  doctrine  might  be  rigid  and  direct 
enough.  Passed  from  mouth  to  mouth,  ignorant, 
or  understanding,  they  might  reach  the  distant 
flock  so  diluted  as  to  have  opportunity  for  com- 
promise with  time-honoured  precedent — and  what 
more  so  than  witchcraft.  You  might — if  you  were 
an  open-minded  husbandman — conceive  that  you 

i66 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

had  been  mistaken  in  seeing  fauns  dancing  where 
the  sunlight  gHnted  down  through  tossing  leaves, 
or  in  hearing  the  voices  of  nymphs  in  the  chatter- 
ing of  a  brook ;  but  a  witch — whom  you  could  see, 
touch,  hear,  who  had  cured  your  toothache  and 
revenged  you  on  your  dishonest  neighbour — she 
took  a  great  deal  of  explaining  away.  Wicked 
she  might  be,  getting  her  power  from  unholy  com- 
pact with  the  Evil  One — burn,  slay,  persecute  her 
by  ^11  means — if  it  would  please  Heaven — but  to 
disbelieve  in  her  altogether,  that  were  asking  too 
much  of  a  plain  man.  How,  indeed,  could  you 
expect  it  of  him  when  the  very  Emperors  proved 
by  their  edicts  the  openness  of  their  minds.  A 
Marcus  Aurelius  not  only  studied  magic,  but  per- 
secuted Christians — slaying,  among  others,  the 
venerable  Polycarp.  An  Augustus  might  feel 
called  upon  to  take  police  measures  against 
witches;  an  Aurelian  rebuked  the  Senate  for  not 
consulting  the  Sibylline  books  when  the  bar- 
barians threatened  the  gates  of  Rome.  "  One 
might  imagine,"  he  said,  "  that  we  were  assembled 
in  a  Christian  church,  rather  than  in  the  temple 
of  all  the  gods."  Where  an  Elagabalus  renewed 
old  superstitions  and  introduced  yet  others,  a 
Constantine  executed  his  favourite  for  seeking  to 
influence  the  weather. 

The  personal  predilections  of  the  Emperors  did 
but  reflect  the  many  and  involved  influences  at 
work  during  the  first  four  centuries  after  Christ. 

167 


The   Book  of  Witches 

Apart  from  the  enduring  influx  of  Eastern 
practices  and  superstitions,  Neo-Platonism  was 
responsible  for  the  revival  of  belief  in  the  super- 
natural as  apart  from  the  divine.  The  Alexandrian 
school,  discarding  the  old  systems  of  philosophy, 
converted  its  study  into  that  of  magic.  The 
barbarians,  again,  were  everywhere  astir.  The 
long  warrings  between  Rome  and  the  Germans 
culminated  in  the  9th  year  of  the  new  era  when 
the  German  Herman  by  his  great  victory  over 
Varus  brought  about  the  eventual  liberation  of 
his  country.  In  259  a.d.  the  Emperor  Gallienus 
married  a  barbarian  princess  and  before  the  close 
of  the  third  century  a.d.  the  Empire  had  become 
largely  "  barbarised  "  by  the  Goths  and  Vandals 
who  did  it  military  service,  and  who,  incidentally, 
served  to  bolster  up  paganism  and  to  introduce 
new  features  into  it.  The  Teutonic  witch  met 
her  Roman  sister,  and  introduced  her  to  darker, 
grimmer,  and  more  vigorous  conceptions  of  her 
art.  The  dreadful  pestilence  which,  in  the  third 
century,  ravaged  the  Empire  gave  a  new  popu- 
larity to  the  black  arts,  and  the  Roman  witch  was 
never  more  sought  after  than  in  the  years  preced- 
ing the  last  and  most  violent  persecution  of  the 
Christians  at  the  hands  of  Diocletian. 

Persecuted  or  petted,  the  witch  was  never  able 
to  progress  in  the  good  opinion  of  the  Christian, 
whose  protest  against'  her  existence  was  steady 
and  constant  whatever  his  own  fate  or  condition. 

168 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

As  soon  as  the  last  of  his  own  persecutors  had 
laid  aside  the  sword,  he  at  once  seized  it  and  set 
to  harassing  the  witch  with  a  deserving  vigour 
which  has  never  altogether  relaxed. 

Whereas  the  pagan  had  chastised  the  witch  with 
rods  for  injuring  man,  the  Christian  set  about  her 
with  scorpions  as  an  enemy  of  God.  Nor  was  the 
exalted  testimony  of  the  Fathers  lacking  to  inspire 
his  energies.  Tertullian,  in  the  second  century, 
declared  the  world  to  be  over-run  with  evil  spirits, 
including  among  them  all  heathen  gods,  whether 
amiable  or  the  reverse,  from  Hebe  to  Hecate. 
Origen,  in  his  third  book  on  Job,  mentions  that 
enchantments  are  sometimes  of  the  devil.  Saint 
Augustine,  in  "  De  Civitate  Dei,"  has  no  doubt 
that  demons  and  evil  spirits  have  connection  with 
women.  The  earliest  ecclesiastical  decree  bear- 
ing on  the  subject  is  that  of  Ancyra,  in  315  a.d.,  by 
which  soothsayers  are  condemned  to  five  years' 
penance.  In  525  the  Council  of  Auxerre  pro- 
hibited all  resort  to  soothsayers.  Witchcraft, 
which  thus  took  upon  its  shoulders  all  the 
enormities  of  paganism,  attained  an  importance  it 
had  never  before  possessed.  The  plain  man 
began  to  realise  that  his  family  witch  was  a  more 
important  person  than  he  had  hitherto  believed. 
If  not  herself  of  semi-infernal  birth,  he  had  it 
on  Saint  Augustine's  authority,  as  aforesaid,  that 
she  was  in  all  probability  the  mistress  of  a  sylvan, 
faun,    or   other   variety   of    devil,    and   that   her 

169 


The   Book  of  Witches 

offspring  were  themselves  no  less  diabolical. 
Naturally  enough  they  increased  and  multiplied, 
so  that  between  corporeal  and  spiritual  devils  the 
world  was  over-populated.  The  Messalians, 
indeed,  went  so  far  as  to  make  spitting  a  religious 
exercise — in  the  hope  of  casting  out  the  devils 
inhaled  at  every  breath;  and  the  common  super- 
stition concerning  sneezing  has  the  same  origin. 
It  might  almost  be  said,  indeed,  that  in  those  early 
days  devils  filled,  and  to  admiration,  the  part  now 
played  by  the  microbe  in  every-day  life. 

It  is  to  be  feared  that,  except  by  those  who 
seriously  studied  the  question,  the  existence  of  so 
many  devils  of  one  kind  or  another  did  not  cause 
such  general  uneasiness  as  the  clergy  might 
desire — very  much  as  now  happens  when  the 
medical  world  is  appalled  by  the  discovery  of 
some  new  microbe  in  strawberry,  telephone 
receiver,  or  shirt-cuff.  The  plain  man  accepted 
them,  and  having  after  some  centuries  discovered 
that  they  made  little  practical  difference  to  his 
life,  ceased  to  feel  morse  than  a  languid  interest  in 
even  the  most  appalling  new  varieties  discovered 
by  saintly  specialists.  Their  constant  insistence 
upon  the  inherent  wickedness  of  humanity  and  the 
almost  insuperable  dangers  which  assail  the 
Christian  on  all  sides  lost  something  of  their 
freshness  in  time,  one  may  suppose,  and  were  suc- 
ceeded by  a  certain  weariness.  Granted  that 
Christianity  was  the  one  sure  road  to  salvation  in 

170 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

the  next  world,  it  was  so  difficult  to  follow  without 
stumbling  that  few,  if  any,  could  hope  to  arrive  at 
the  goal,  save  by  some  such  lucky  accident  as  a 
martyrdom.  Christianity  was  thus  bound,  in 
practice,  if  not  in  theory,  to  come  to  some  working 
agreement  with  the  old,  comfortable  pagan 
customs  it  had  superseded.  Certain  of  the  more 
popular  pagan  customs  and  festivals  found  their 
way  into  Christian  observance,  certain  popular 
deities  were  baptised  and  became  Christian  saints. 
A  familiar  instance  of  this  occurs  in  the  case  of 
Saint  Walpurg.  In  Christian  hagiology  she 
occurs  as  a  virgin  saint,  and  as  having 
accompanied  Saint  Boniface  upon  his  mis- 
sionary travels — all  of  which  would  seem 
to  show  that  pious  scandal-mongering  was 
less  rife  in  contemporary  religious  circles 
than  is  the  case  to-day.  In  folk-lore  we 
jfind  many  wells  and  springs  associated  with  her 
and  thus  acquiring  valuable  medicinal  qualities. 
The  oil  exuded  from  her  bones  upon  Walpurgis- 
nacht  was  valued  as  relieving  the  pangs  of 
toothache  and  of  childbirth.  Potent  in  the 
cure  of  hydrophobia,  the  dog  is  included  among 
her  pictorial  attributes,  while  she  is  also  repre- 
sented as  bearing  in  her  hand  either  oil  or  ears  of 
corn — the  symbols  of  agricultural  fertility.  The 
festivals  and  rejoicings  which  took  place  upon 
Walpurgis-nacht,  with  their  special  connection 
with    witchcraft,    would    further    seem    to    show 

171 


The   Book  of   Witches 

that  Walpurg  before  she  became  a  Christian 
saint  had  a  long  history  as  a  mother-goddess. 
In  the  same  manner  in  the  cult  of  the  Virgin  may 
be  found  traces  of  that  worship  of  Diana  which 
for  600  years  persisted  side  by  side  with 
Christianity,  and  is  far  from  being  altogether 
extinct  in  Italy  even  to-day. 

As  may  readily  be  understood,  these  paganising 
tendencies  were  not  favourably  regarded  by  the 
fathers.  In  the  year  600  a.d,  St.  Eligius  felt 
called  upon  to  forbid  dancing,  capering,  carols, 
and  diabolical  songs  upon  the  festival  of  Saint 
John.  A  statute  of  Saint  Boniface  forbids 
choruses  of  laymen  and  maidens  to  sing  and 
feast  in  the  churches.  As  the  Church  increased 
in  power,  many  such  practices — as,  for  example, 
the  dancing  of  women  round  sacred  trees  and 
wells,  with  torches  or  candles  in  their  hands,  the 
common  meal,  the  choral  song  and  sacrifice — were 
roundly  forbidden  as  witchcraft,  the  uprooting  of 
which  the  Church  at  last  felt  capable  of  taking 
seriously  in  hand.  This  was  indeed  become  a 
matter  almost  of  life  and  death,  for  the  Church 
found  itself  in  many  ways  in  acute  com- 
petition with  the  witch,  the  one  attaining 
by  lawful  means  similar  results  to  those 
achieved  by  the  other  through  the  assist- 
ance of  Satan.  And  just  as  Adam,  upon 
learning  that  the  apple  was  forbidden  to  him, 
immediately  hungered  after  it  to  the  exclusion  of 

172 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

all  other  fare,  so  the  public  showed  itself  more 
eager  to  obtain  the  forbidden  services  of  the  witch 
than  those  of  the  legitimate  practitioner.  So 
much  was  this  the  case  that  the  Church  was  some- 
times forced  to  resort  to  other  means  than  perse- 
cution to  show  itself  capable  of  competing  against 
the  witch  with  her  own  weapons.  Occasionally,  it 
must  be  confessed,  these  methods  suggested 
rather  the  American  Trust  magnate  than  the  fair 
competitor,  as,  for  instance,  the  case  of  the  Blocks- 
berg.  This  hill  was  a  place  of  considerable  im- 
portance to  witches,  providing  a  large  choice  of 
magical  herbs  as  the  raw  material  for  their  trade 
in  weather-charms.  These  could,  however,  be 
gathered  only  upon  the  eve  of  Saint  John  and 
during  the  ringing  of  the  neighbouring  church- 
bells.  The  ecclesiastical  authorities,  becoming 
aware  of  this,  gave  orders  that  the  bells  should 
be  rung  only  for  the  shortest  possible  period  on 
that  date — a  proceeding  the  unfairness  of  which 
could  only  have  been  exceeded  by  not  ringing 
the  bells  at  all. 

Another  story  of  the  kind,  quoted  by  Mr. 
Lecky,  shows  that,  even  in  fair  and  open  competi- 
tion, holy  water  could  hold  its  own  against  the 
most  powerful  of  black  magic.  A  certain  Chris- 
tian, Italicus  by  name,  was  addicted  to  horse- 
racing  at  Gaza.  One  of  his  most  dangerous  and 
constant  competitors  was  a  pagan  Duumvir.  This 
latter,  being  versed  in  the  black  arts,  therewith 

173 


The  Book   of  Witches 

"  doped  "  his  horses  so  successfully  that  he  in- 
variably won.  Italicus,  being  prohibited  from 
following  his  example,  at  last  appealed  to  Saint 
Hilarion,  exhorting  him  to  uphold  the  honour  of 
the  Church  by  some  signal  display  of  super- 
natural power.  The  saint,  after  some  hesitation, 
complied,  and  presented  Italicus  with  a  bowl  of 
specially  consecrated  holy-water.  At  the  start  of 
the  next  race  Italicus  liberally  besprinkled  his 
team,  whereupon  they  drew  his  chariot  to  the 
winning-post  with  supernatural  rapidity.  The 
Duumvir's  horses,  on  the  other  hand,  faltered  and 
staggered,  as  though  belaboured  by  an  unseen 
hand — and,  needless  to  say,  lost  the  race. 
Whether  the  Duumvir  appealed  to  the  contem- 
porary Jockey  Club  to  disqualify  the  winning 
team,  and,  if  so,  with  what  result,  we  are  not 
informed. 

Considering  the  vast  and  ever-increasing  popu- 
lation of  witches  and  demons,  it  seemed  an  almost 
hopeless  task  to  exterminate  them  altogether. 
Nor  indeed  was  it  until  after  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury that  the  Church  attempted  the  task  on  any 
universal  scale.  If  an  individual  witch  was  un- 
lucky enough  to  fall  into  priestly  hands,  her  fate 
was  likely  to  be  unhappy — but  in  the  early  days 
of  the  faith  the  priest  felt  himself  capable  of 
triumphing  over  her  by  less  material  weapons. 
Only,  as  priests  could  not  be  everywhere,  and  the 
number  of  witches  so  largely  exceeded  their  own, 

174 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

means  were  provided  whereby  even  the  layman 
might  withstand  them.  Thus  burning  sulphur 
was  very  efficacious  in  the  driving  out  of  devils, 
the  subtlety  (!)  of  its  odour  having  great  power 
of  purification.  The  gall  of  a  black  dog  put  in 
perfume  was  another  acknowledged  recipe,  as  was 
the  smearing  of  his  blood  upon  the  walls  of  the 
infested  house. 

It  is  noteworthy,  and  a  fact  that  vouches 
strongly  for  the  sincerity  of  the  early  Church,  that 
although  she  thus  practised  what  was  nothing  less 
than  sanctified  witchcraft,  she  never  attempted 
one  of  the  most  frequent  and  popular  of  witch- 
practices — the  foretelling  of  the  future,  so  far,  at 
any  rate,  as  this  world  was  concerned.  It  is  true 
that  the  Christian's  earthly  future,  being  but  an 
uncomfortable  preliminary  to  posthumous  joys, 
might  be  more  happily  left  unf oretold.  Yet  many 
of  them  did  not  altogether  despise  the  pleasures 
of  this  life,  and  were  very  willing  to  pay  for  an 
anticipatory  glimpse  of  any  likely  to  be  en- 
countered. 

Familiarity  in  some  measure  breeding  contempt, 
the  public  in  these  early  days  thus  regarded 
neither  witch  nor  daemon  with  the  dread  and 
hatred  so  manifest  in  the  fifteenth  century  and 
onwards.  For  one  thing,  faith  in  the  power  of 
the  Church  was  more  implicit.  To  dally  with  the 
forbidden  had  all  the  fascination  of  a  sport  with 
a  spice  of  danger  in  it,  when  you  knew  that  at 

175 


The   Book  of  Witches 

any  time  a  power  vastly  greater  than  those  of  evil 
was  ready  to  step  in  to  protect  you  from  the  con- 
sequences of  your  over-rashness.  Before  the 
name  of  a  fairly  efficient  saint  the  most  powerful 
demon  must  bend  his  head,  especially  with  holy 
water  anywhere  in  the  neighbourhood.  If  you 
fell  under  the  power  of  a  witch  it  could  only  be 
through  neglecting  to  take  proper  precautions  or 
to  employ  someone  else  to  do  so  for  a  moderate 
fee.  Our  own  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  showed 
a  very  nice  spirit  of  prudence  in  such  matters— 
as  in  the  famous  meeting  between  Ethelbert  King 
of  Kent  and  Saint  Augustine,  held,  by  royal  com- 
mand, in  the  open  air,  lest  the  missionary,  being 
under  a  roof,  might  practise  unlawful  arts  upon 
the  King.  The  witch,  in  a  word,  was  everywhere, 
but  so  were  the  necessary  antidotes — some  of  them 
of  the  simplest.  Thus,  in  the  story  of  Hereward 
we  learn  how  the  Wise  Woman  of  Brandon,  near 
Ely,  anathematised  the  hero  from  a  wooden  scaf- 
folding. To  be  really  efficacious  her  curses  must 
be  thrice  repeated,  but  before  she  had  time  to  do 
this  the  scaffold  was  set  on  fire  by  Hereward's 
followers,  and  the  Wise  Woman  perished  miser- 
ably. The  witch,  in  fact,  like  her  gossip  the 
Devil,  always  comes  off  second  best  in  folk-lore 
where  she  is  matched  against  the  truly  virtuous — 
a  comforting  reflection  for  everybody,  however 
ominous  for  their  friends. 

She  was  still  to  some  extent  a  shadowy  per- 
176 


From   Paganism  to  Christianity 

sonality,  of  shifting  and  indefinite  attributes. 
Although  in  696  the  Council  of  Berkhampstead 
decreed  that  any  person  sacrificing  to  the  Devil 
should  be  punished — a  clear  enough  reference  to 
witches — it  was  not  until  some  centuries  later  that 
the  conception  of  the  witch  definitely  crystallised 
into  its  modern  form  of  a  woman  carrying  out 
an  actual  compact  with  Satan,  working  miracles 
by  his  power,  and  frequently  transported  through 
the  air  to  pay  him  homage  at  Sabbath  gatherings. 
Until  then  the  Church  may  be  said  to  have  been 
obtaining  and  sifting  evidence,  building  up  a 
formidable  mass  of  precedent  and  tradition,  to  be 
employed  with  deadly  effect  when  witchcraft  was 
definitely  branded  as  heresy. 

Whether  or  no  the  sins  of  witch  and  sorcerer 
be  definitely  codified,  it  is  the  duty  of  the  law- 
giver to  provide  for  all  contingencies;  and  just  as 
Justinian  devoted  part  of  his  code  to  dealing 
with  witchcraft,  so  Charlemagne,  two  centuries  and 
a  half  later,  enacted  new  and  stringent  laws  for 
the  abatement  of  sorcery — as  in  the  Capitular  of 
789,  wherein  supernatural  meteorology  is  for- 
bidden. More  direct,  though  perhaps  less  effica- 
cious, were  such  deterrent  methods  as  those  of 
the  pious  Bishop  Barbatus,  who  in  the  seventh 
century  cut  down  and  uprooted  a  certain  nut-tree 
famous  as  a  meeting  place  for  witches.  It  may 
here  be  noted  that  trees  were  at  all  times  much 
favoured  by  the  evil  sisterhood,  more  especially 

177  N 


The   Book  of  Witches 

as  meteorological  offices.  Numerous  witch-oaks 
throughout  Germany  served  for  this  purpose — 
one,  at  Buckenhofen,  was  used  as  a  swing  by 
witches  attending  the  Walpurgis-nacht.  It  is  some- 
thing of  a  paradox  that  while  a  grove  of  oaks — 
the  sacred  tree  of  the  Teutons,  as  is  the  linden  of 
the  Slavs — is  a  protection  against  magic,  parti- 
cular trees  should  be  famous  as  gathering-points 
for  witches. 

As  the  year  looo  approached,  the  generally 
optimistic  outlook  upon  things  in  general  suffered 
a  decline.  Famine  and  pestilence  grew  always 
more  commonplace;  the  price  of  corn  increased 
unprecedentedly;  starvation  became  the  normal 
condition  of  millions  throughout  Europe;  cases 
occurred  in  which  children  were  killed  and 
devoured  by  their  famished  parents;  dead  bodies 
were  disinterred  and  used  for  food.  Old  pro- 
phecies had  placed  the  end  of  the  world  in  the 
year  looo,  and  to  the  miseries  of  hunger  and 
disease  were  added  those  of  universal  terror. 
The  forward  movement  in  the  Church  seemed 
to  have  died  away,  and  Christian  fervour  gave 
place  to  increased  insistence  on  forms  and 
ceremonies,  regarded  by  the  commonalty  as 
tiresome,  if  necessary,  duties.  Small  wonder 
that  they  sought  for  something  which,  instead 
of  the  hopeless  contemplation  of  inherent  sin, 
should  provide  some  ray  of  present  comfort. 
Here  was  the  opportunity  of  the  witch,  the  sor- 

178 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

cerer,  and  the  alchemist — and  here  also  began  the 
bitterest  contest  between  priesthood  and  witch- 
craft. Hitherto  the  Church  had  been  able  to 
regard  such  rivals,  if  not  with  tolerance,  at  least 
with  contempt.  Now  it  had  to  fight  against 
weapons  forged  in  its  own  furnaces,  appealing  to 
that  abysmal  ignorance  ordained  by  the  priest 
upon  his  flock.  If  the  monopoly  in  knowledge 
be  power,  its  application  is  double-edged;  the 
Church  was  forced  to  seek  some  new  means  of 
inspiring  the  fear  of  celestial  wrath  to  come  into 
those  who  could  imagine  no  circumstances  more 
dreadful  than  what  they  already  daily  endured. 
The  time  had  come  to  prove  that  those  who  tam- 
pered with  the  forbidden  must  expect  a  double 
share  of  punishment — in  this  world  as  well  as  the 
next — and  that  the  earthly  penalty  was  quite 
as  much  to  be  dreaded  as  the  best  infernal 
efforts. 

In  1025,  Burckhard  of  Worms  inserts  the 
significant  question  in  the  confessional : — 
"  Have  you  believed  that  there  are  women 
who  can  turn  love  into  hate  and  hatred 
into  love,  or  who  can  harm  their  neigh- 
bours and  seize  their  goods  for  themselves? 
Have  you  believed  that  godless  women  blinded 
by  the  Devil  ride  abroad  at  night  with  the  demon 
Holda,  obeying  her  as  goddess?  "  Followed  in 
due  course  Ethelred's  decree  of  banishment 
against  witches,  soothsayers,  and  magicians,  and 

179  N    2 


The  Book  of   Witches 

that  of  Canute,  which  included  love-witchcraft  as 
a  branch  of  heathendom. 

Though  the  anathemas  of  the  Church  might  for 
a  time  stem  the  increasing  tide  of  witch-popularity, 
they  were  fundamentally  only  incentives  towards 
a  cult  which  did  not  include  anathemas  or  per- 
secution— except,  indeed,  those  within  the  control 
of  the  humblest  individual.  In  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, moreover — the  century  of  the  Crusaders — 
many  new  influences  were  at  work.  To  counter- 
act the  general  lethargy  into  which  the  Church 
was  sinking,  the  Popes  availed  themselves  of  their 
knowledge  of  human  nature.  Epidemical  frenzy 
was  aroused  by  remission  of  penance,  absolution 
of  all  sins,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  and  the 
assurance  of  eternal  felicity  for  all  who  took  the 
cross.  Sham  miracles  and  prophecies  stimulated 
the  popular  enthusiasm,  and  more  potent  than 
either  was  the  knowledge  among  millions  that  any 
change  they  might  experience  must  be  for  the 
better.  But  however  promising  at  the  time,  the 
great  "  revival  "  was  fraught  with  danger  to  the 
Church  that  provoked  it.  New  conditions  evolved 
new  ideas.  Asia  provided  greater  luxury  for 
body  and  mind  than  any  hitherto  known  to  its 
European  invaders.  The  new  world  thus 
opened  before  them  might  be  sinful;  it  was  at 
least  very  pleasant.  Future  damnation  presents 
few  terrors  to  the  well-fed,  and  the  discovery  that 
millions  existed,  and  in  comfort,  who  had  never 

1 80 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

taken  off  their  hat  to  a  priest  in  their  Hves — how- 
ever shocking  it  might  seem  at  first — was  bound 
to  give  furiously  to  think. 

Among  the  forbidden  institutions  upon  which 
the  Crusader  found  reason  to  reconsider  his  ideas, 
witchcraft  took  a  prominent  place.  Anathema 
though  it  might  be,  it  had  a  multitude  of  Oriental 
exponents,  who,  whatever  they  might  have  to  look 
for  in  the  next  world,  had  little  cause  to  complain 
of  this.  Such  abominations  cried  for  intelligent 
investigation,  if  only  that  they  might  be  refuted, 
with  the  result  that  the  Crusader  returned  home 
with  the  knowledge  of  many  novel  features  that 
might  be  profitably  added  to  the  Western  ritual 
of  magic.  Meanwhile  in  his  absence  his  own 
native  practitioners  had  not  been  idle.  Faithful 
wives  were  anxious  to  know  something  of  their 
lords'  whereabouts,  safety,  or,  it  may  be,  fidelity. 
Those  who  were  not  faithful  had  even  more  need 
of  tidings  as  to  his  probable  return  and  of  means 
for  delaying  it.  In  such  emergencies  the  services 
of  the  witch  were  indispensable — and  priestly  pro- 
hibitions only  served  to  advertise  her  powers  and 
to  increase  the  number  of  her  suppliants.  These 
various  causes,  and  more  particularly  the  last, 
combined  to  give  witchcraft  an  importance  in  social 
life  hitherto  denied  to  it,  and  to  draw  down  upon 
it  more  and  more  the  wrath  of  Mother  Church. 
She  had,  indeed,  other  no  less  pressing  calls  upon 
her  attention.     The  long  slumber  of  orthodoxy 

i8i 


The  Book  of  Witches 

was  at  an  end ;  many  heresies  disturbed  the  minds 
of  the  faithful.  The  revival  of  Latin  literature 
stirred  thoughts  and  feelings  long  blurred  by 
Church  teaching.  The  Crusaders  were  not  the 
sole  importers  of  Oriental  ideas;  Greek  traders 
also,  along  with  the  drugs  and  perfumes  of  the 
East,  brought  new  doctrines,  received  with  dan- 
gerous tolerance.  The  vigorous  Innocent  III. 
quickly  perceived  the  danger,  and  entered  upon 
a  systematic  persecution  of  heretics.  In  1208  a 
Papal  Legate  having  been  murdered  by  Raimond 
of  Toulouse — against  whom  the  Church  had 
already  serious  cause  of  complaint,  Innocent  at 
once  proclaimed  a  crusade,  and  the  heretical 
Albigenses  were  involved  in  the  ruin  of  their 
most  powerful  protector,  suffering  a  persecution  of 
almost  unprecedented  severity.  The  establish- 
ment of  the  Inquisition  now  became  a  logical 
necessity  if  the  spread  of  heresy  was  to  be  saved, 
and  little  time  was  lost  in  its  creation. 

By  this  time  Satan  had  assumed  a  definite 
form  and  personality  in  the  public  mind,  and  the 
idea  that  the  witch  obtained  her  powers  through 
a  compact  with  him,  long  sedulously  inculcated, 
had  taken  root.  It  is  true  that  even  yet  the 
"  Sabbath  "  was  but  a  harmless  servile  carnival, 
frowned  upon,  indeed,  and  discouraged  wherever 
possible.  Coincidentally  with  the  rise  of  the 
general  heresy  hunt,  Europe  was  overrun  by  a 
number    of    devastating    epidemics.       Leprosy, 

182 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

epilepsy,  and  every  form  of  skin  disease  raged 
almost  unchecked.  They  were  attributed  to  many 
causes,  from  lack  of  faith  to  the  consumption  of 
various  Eastern  drugs  introduced  by  home-faring 
Crusaders — though  lack  of  food  and  cleanliness 
were  doubtless  the  most  active  agents  in  spread- 
ing them  abroad.  Dirt  had  long  been  accounted 
almost  a  mark  of  holiness — and  one  so  easy  of 
attainment  that  few  cared  to  disregard  it  and 
arouse  suspicion  as  to  their  orthodoxy  by  too 
frequent  ablutions.  Medical  science  was  at  its 
lowest  ebb ;  the  priests,  with  keen  common  sense, 
declared  skin  eruptions  to  be  divinely-inflicted 
punishments,  and  therefore  not  amenable  to  holy 
water.  In  despair  the  unhappy  sufferers  turned 
to  the  witch  for  aid,  who,  by  her  knowledge  of 
herbs  and  simples,  was  qualified  to  alleviate,  if 
not  to  cure.  Everything  seemed  to  conspire  in 
thrusting  forward  the  witch  into  dangerous 
prominence. 

The  ecclesiastical  measures  of  repression  grew 
always  more  severe.  Canon  Law  decreed  that 
soothsayers  be  subjected  to  excommunication,  and 
enjoined  upon  the  bishops  to  leave  no  stone  un- 
turned for  their  repression.  By  the  fourteenth 
century  the  Sabbaths,  under  the  penetrating  eye 
of  the  Inquisition  lost  their  harmless  character  and 
became  forcing  grounds  of  the  Black  Mass.  The 
practice  of  medicine  by  women,  however  bene- 
ficial, grew  more  and  more  into  disfavour,  and 

183 


The  Book  of  Witches 

year  by  year  the  attributes  of  the  witch  grew 
more  infernal  as  the  material  Devil  became 
more  and  more  familiar  in  men's  minds.  No 
doubt  the  increase  of  witches  was  real  as  well  as 
theoretical.  Love  of  notoriety  is  of  no  modern 
growth — and  the  reputation  of  possessing  infernal 
powers  satisfactorily  filled  the  position  of  the 
modern  newspaper  paragraph.  This  in  more 
senses  than  one — for  not  only  could  you  obtain 
notoriety  for  yourself,  as  does  the  modern  Apache 
who  murders  for  the  reclame  it  will  bring  him,  you 
could  also  satisfy  a  grudge  against  a  neighbour, 
with  no  risk  to  yourself,  by  anonymously  accusing 
her  to  the  local  clergy.  Witchcraft,  again,  was 
open  to  all,  without  licence,  examination,  or 
entrance  fee.  Poverty,  the  desire  of  solitude,  a 
nice  taste  in  invective,  and  a  black  cat  or  so  were 
all  the  stock-in-trade  required  to  start  in  business. 
The  convenience,  from  the  Church  point  of 
view,  of  catching  witch  and  heretic  in  the  same 
net  was  too  obvious  to  be  disregarded.  By  the 
fourteenth  century  their  connection  was  well 
established  in  the  eyes  of  church  and  law.  In 
France,  so  early  as  the  thirteenth  century,  prose- 
cution took  place  for  "  vauderie,"  an  omnibus- 
word  which  covered  at  once  witchcraft  and  the 
heretical  practices  of  those  Vaudois  from  whose 
name  it  was  derived.  In  Ireland,  in  1324,  pro- 
ceedings for  witchcraft  taken  against  Dame  Alice 
Kyteler  and  others  in  the  Court  of  the  Bishop  of 

184 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

Ossory,  brought  about  a  conflict  between  Church 
and  State,  such  cases,  according  to  English  law, 
being  tried  by  a  secular  tribunal. 

The  substitution  of  linen  for  wool  in  dress  was 
an  efficient  factor  in  abating  the  ravages  of  skin- 
diseases,  but  their  place  was  taken  by  the  more 
terrible  Black  Death,  and,  in  1350,  epileptic 
dancings,  known  as  the  Dance  of  Saint  Guy, 
broke  out  with  especial  virulence  in  Germany  and 
Flanders.  These  and  other  diseases,  constant 
wars,  bad  harvests,  and  other  troubles  brought 
about  a  series  of  class-wars,  the  Jacquerie  in 
France,  and  Wat  Tyler's  insurrection  in  England, 
for  example;  the  Devil  and  the  witch  between 
them  shared  the  blame  in  the  eyes  of  respectable 
Europe.  The  greater  pestilences  were  attributed 
to  the  Devil's  personal  intervention,  while  minor 
diseases,  and  especially  poisonings,  fell  to  the 
witch's  share — this  latter  accusation  being,  per- 
haps, not  altogether  without  cause.  The  public 
— or  that  portion  whose  lives  were  cast  in  places 
sufficiently  pleasant  to  prevent  them  desiring 
such  consolation  as  magic  might  afford  them — 
were  now  fully  aroused  to  their  iniquity.  Against 
the  agents  of  so  grisly  a  horror  as  the  mediaeval 
devil  no  measures  could  be  too  severe,  no 
torture  too  dreadful.  Scholasticism  vied 
with  the  Church  in  deploring  the  increas- 
ing evil;  John  XXII. 's  publication  of  the 
first    Bull    against    witchcraft    was    capped    by 

18s 


The  Book  of  Witches 

the  University  of  Paris,  which,  in  1398,  laid  down 
rules  for  the  judicial  prosecution  of  witches,  ex- 
pressing at  the  same  time  regret  that  the  crime 
of  sorcery  should  be  growing  more  common  than 
in  any  former  age.  In  England,  from  the  Con- 
quest onwards,  commissions  were  issued  from  time 
to  time  empowering  the  Bishops  to  seek  out  sor- 
cerers. In  1406  such  a  mission  was  delegated  to 
the  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  It  was  not,  however, 
until  1542  that  penalties  more  severe  than  fine 
and  imprisonment  were  inflicted  by  the  Ecclesias- 
tical Courts. 

The  ever-increasing  prestige  of  witchcraft  in 
time  raised  it  to  a  point  where  it  could  be  made 
an  apt  weapon  for  political  intrigues.  The 
burning  of  Jeanne  d'Arc  as  a  witch  is  a  case  in 
point,  her  tormentors  by  their  choice  of  indict- 
ment dimming  for  long  centuries  the  halo  which 
surrounded  her  efforts  towards  the  freeing  of  her 
country,  while  at  the  same  time  it  provided  ample 
opportunity  for  those  who,  having  been  among  the 
first  to  hail  the  rising  popular  star,  are  also  first 
to  enjoy  his  fall  from  greatness.  Another  case, 
even  more  definitely  political,  was  that  of  Eleanor 
Duchess  of  Gloucester,  in  which  the  charge  of 
witchcraft  proved  a  serviceable  weapon  in  the 
hands  of  Cardinal  Beaufort.  The  Duchess, 
although  accused  of  no  less  a  crime  than  procur- 
ing a  wax  image  of  Henry  VI.,  manufactured  by 
the  Witch  of  Eye,  with  nefarious  intent,  escaped 

186 


From  Paganism  to  Christianity 

the  death  penalty  indeed,  but  was  condemned  to 
pubhc  penance,  followed  by  life-long  banishment. 
As  the  Reformation  grew,  nearer,  public  opinion 
veered  round  to  some  slight  extent  in  the  direc- 
tion of  leniency.  The  Inquisition  -was  itself 
becoming  so  unpopular  that  its  victims  were  bound 
to  excite  some  secret  sympathy.  The  Renais- 
sance, throwing  wide  the  door  to  all  the  intellect 
"n3f''classical  days,  already  shook  the  dominion  of 
the  Church  to  its  foundations.  The  time  had 
come  for  desperate  measures  if  Orthodoxy  was 
to  hold  her  own.  In  1484  the  Witch-Bull  of 
Innocent  VI 1 1,  definitely  handed  the  witch  over 
to  the  care  of  the  Inquisitors — and  thus  gave  the 
signal  for  a  series  of  persecutions  of  unexampled 
horror,  enduring  through  more  than  two  centuries, 
and  the  last  echoes  of  which  have  scarcely  died 
away  even  to-day. 


187 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    WITCH-BULL    AND    ITS    EFFECTS 

I  HAVE  elsewhere  in  this  volume  attempted  to  show 
that,  even  in  our  own  days,  there  is  nothing  particu- 
larly incredible  about  a  witch — and  that  the  dis- 
respect into  which  she  has  fallen  is  due  rather  to 
our  modern  lack  of  any  sense  of  proportion  in  our 
beliefs,  than  to  any  fault  of  her  own.  Certainly 
we  have  no  cause  to  pride  ourselves  on  any  in- 
tellectual superiority  to  the  great  divines  and 
scholars  of  past  ages  who  devoted  themselves  to 
the  dissection  or  condemnation  of  witchcraft — 
rather  we  should  deplore  our  lack  of  faith  and  of 
imagination.  For  them  there  existed  no  possibility 
of  doubt,  no  relative  standard  of  fact  or  theory. 
The  premises  were  absolute.  The  spiritual  world 
was  based  upon  the  word  of  God  as  ex- 
pressed in  the  Bible  and  translated  by  the 
Church.  To  argue  the  absurdity  or  inad- 
missibility of  any  particular  tenet  of  Christian 
doctrine  was  to  suppose  a  paradox — the  fallibility 
of  the  infallible.  Eminent  jurists,  as  was  Bodin, 
or  learned  physicians  such  as  Wierus,  both  writing 

1 88 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

towards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  arguing 
with  great  mental  dexterity  on  opposite  sides, 
alike  accepted  the  initial  axiom,  cramp  and  con- 
fine them  though  it  might.  They  had,  indeed,  no 
alternative — as  well  might  two  modern  as- 
tronomers in  disputing  over  the  whereabouts  of  an 
undiscovered  planet  deny  the  existence  of  the  sun. 
The  humane  Wierus,  a  friend  of  Sir  Philip 
Sidney,  by  the  way,  preaches  from  the  same 
text  as  does  the  judicial  Bodin — though  he  de- 
livers a  different  sermon.  Bodin,  supporter  of 
the  old  conventions,  makes  a  formidable  on- 
slaught on  Wierus — not  for  any  scepticism  as  to 
the  existence  of  witches — no  ground  was  given 
him  for  such  an  accusation — but  for  maintaining 
against  the  view  of  the  Church  that  witches  were 
victims  rather  than  disciples  of  the  Devil.  Nor, 
in  the  face  of  the  very  explicit  injunction,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  suffer  a  witch  to  live  " — and  the  sug- 
gestion was  still  to  be  mooted  that  "  witch  "  in 
the  original  stood  for  "  poisoner  " — can  we 
accuse  those  who  obeyed  it  of  having  acted  from 
any  other  motives  than  those  of  earnest  Chris- 
tians. It  is  true  that  they  carried  zeal  to  the  point 
of  enthusiasm — but  zeal  has  always  been 
accounted  a  mark  of  grace. 

As  we  have  seen  the  severest  period  of  witch- 
persecution  commences  from  their  definite  classifi- 
cation as  heretics  by  the  Bull  of  Innocent  VIII. 
issued  in  1484.     The  Bull  itself  was  not  lacking 

189 


The  Book  of  Witches 

in  directness : — "  It  has  come  to  our  ears/'  it 
commences,  "  that  great  numbers  of  both  sexes 
are  not  afraid  to  abuse  their  own  bodies  with 
devils  that  serve  to  both  sexes.  And  with  their 
Inchantments,  charms  and  sorceries  to  vex  and 
afflict  Man  and  Beast  with  inward  and  outward 

pains    and    tortures Therefore    with    the 

authority  apostoHc  we  have  given  power  to  the 
Inquisitor  ...  to  convict,  imprison  and  punish.'*' 

The  Inquisitor,  Sprenger,  lost  little  time  in 
making  use  of  this  delegated  authority — and  such 
was  his  zeal  and  so  many  his  opportunities  of 
acquiring  knowledge  that  within  two  years  after 
the  issue  of  the  Bull  he  gave  to  the  world  his 
famous  "  Witch's  Hammer,"  for  the  direction 
and  guidance  of  those  upon  whom  should  fall  the 
duty  of   exterminating   so  vile  a  heresy.     This 

Malleus  Maleficarum  "  contains  minute  ac- 
counts of  every  description  of  witch,  with  sugges- 
tions for  counteracting  and  exterminating  their 
influence.  Like  most  of  his  predecessors — and 
successors — Sprenger  blames  the  whole  existence 
of  witchcraft  upon  the  notorious  frailty  of  women. 
The  very  word  "  foemina,"  he  declares,  in  the 
accents  of  authority,  is  derived  from  "  fe  "  and 
"  minus  '' — because  women  have  less  faith  than 
have  men.  From  this  unhappy  constitution  of 
the  sex  countless  ills  have  sprung — among  them 
innumerable  varieties  of  witch.  Of  these,  thirteen 
are  exhaustively  described,  that  all  may  recog- 

190 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

nise  them.  Worst  are  those  who  slay  and 
devour  children.  Others  raise  hail,  tempests, 
lightning  and  thunder,  procure  barrenness  in  man, 
woman  and  beast,  make  horses  kick  until  they 
throw  their  riders,  or  pass  from  place  to  place 
through  the  air,  invisible.  Others  can  render 
themselves  taciturn  and  insensible  under  torture, 
can  find  things  hidden  or  lost,  foretell  the  future 
and  alter  men's  minds  to  inordinate  love  or  hate. 
They  can  draw  down  the  moon,  destroy  unborn 
children,  raise  spirits — in  a  word,  there  is  no  de- 
partment of  devilry,  major  or  minor,  in  which  they 
are  not  adepts,  if  we  may  trust  their  enthusiastic 
historian,  whose  work  at  once  became  an  authority 
• — almost  a  ready  reckoner  of  witchcraft,  by  which 
anyone  with  a  knowledge  of  Latin  had  at  his 
fingers'  ends  the  best  possible  method  of  recog- 
nising, convicting  and  destroying  any  variety  or 
variant  whatsoever. 

It  is  pleasant  to  reflect  that  so  careful  and  con- 
scientious a  work  earned  for  its  author  the 
affection  and  admiration  alike  of  his  contem- 
poraries and  of  posterity.  Later  writers  based 
their  theories  and  arguments  upon  his  discoveries 
as  upon  a  firm  rock,  while  during  his  lifetime  he 
directed  public  opinion  upon  the  evil  he  had  set 
himself  to  combat  so  successfully  that  not  one 
old  woman  in  fifty  could  be  sure  of  dying  in  her 
bed  for  generations.  It  is  a  pregnant  sign  of  the 
genuine  horror  in  which  witches  were  held  that  all 

191 


The   Book  of  Witches 

the  ordinary  legal  conventions  were  suspended  at 
these  trials.  Contrary  to  the  usual  procedure,  wit- 
ness might  be  borne  against  them  by  excom- 
municated persons,  convicts,  infants,  dishonest 
servants  and  runaways.  Presumption  and  con- 
jecture were  accepted  as  evidence,  an  equivocal  or 
doubtful  answer  was  regarded  as  a  confession 
and  rumour  or  common  report  sufficient  to  ensure 
a  conviction.  It  is  true  that  such  improvements 
in  legal  procedure  cannot  be  altogether  attributed 
to  the  exertions  of  the  Inquisitor— dating,  as 
many  of  them  do,  from  centuries  before  the  publi- 
cation of  his  magnum  opus — at  least  he  devoted 
a  splendid  enthusiasm  to  the  object  he  had  set 
before  him,  and  on  his  death-bed  was  able  to  look 
forward  with  confident  humility  to  the  reward 
merited  by  a  well-spent  life. 

The  effects  of  the  Witch-Bull  were  immediate 
and  in  every  way  satisfactory  to  its  authors — a 
perfect  frenzy  of  witch-finding  resulting.  Forty- 
one  women  were  burned  in  one  year — commenc- 
ing in  1485 — by  the  Inquisitor  Cumanus.  A 
colleague,  not  to  be  outdone,  executed  a  hundred 
in  Piedmont — and  was  perfectly  willing  to  con- 
tinue the  good  work,  had  not  public  enthusiasm 
waned  in  view  of  the  inevitable  monotony  in  this 
form  of  amusement.  A  little  later  a  tempest  devas- 
tated the  country  around  Constance.  The  inhabit- 
ants recognising  that — in  face  of  the  recent  Bull 
— it  were  blasphemous  to  attribute  such  a  storm 

192 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

to  natural  causes,  seized  two  old  women,  obtained 
confessions  in  the  usual  way,  and  burned  them. 
About  15 15,  some  five  hundred  persons  were 
executed  in  Geneva  as  "  Protestant  witches  " — 
an  instance  of  the  alliance  between  heresy  and 
witchcraft.  In  Lorraine  the  learned  and  en- 
thusiastic Inquisitor  Remigius  put  to  death  nine 
hundred  persons  in  15  years.  Hutchinson, 
indeed,  writing  in  1718,  puts  the  number  at 
eighteen  hundred,  but  even  the  smaller — and 
more  correct — total  shows  that  Remigius  did  his 
duty  nobly.  Italy,  naturally  enough,  was  deter- 
mined not  to  be  outdone  by  foreign  holocausts, 
and  accordingly  we  find  that  more  than  a  thou- 
sand executions  took  place  in  Como  in  1524,  and 
an  average  of  more  than  a  hundred  was  main- 
tained for  several  years. 

Mere  lists  of  figures  such  as  these  are  apt  to 
pall,  especially  when,  as  in  such  a  case,  it  is  almost 
impossible  for  a  modern  reader  to  realise  their 
actual  meaning,  as  that  every  day  throughout  a 
whole  year,  three  unhappy  women,  old,  poor,  and 
defenceless,  should  be  inhumianly  tortured,  and 
afterwards  publicly  murdered  in  the  most  painful 
way  imaginable  in  one  district,  not  only  without 
a  word  of  protest  being  raised,  but  with  the 
approval  of  all  Europe.  That  it  should  have 
actually  taken  place  vouches  for  the  earnestness 
with  which  our  forefathers  regarded  their  religion, 
if  for  nothing  else. 

193  o 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  Protestants  were 
in  any  way  less  attentive  to  this  branch  of  their  re- 
ligious duties  than  were  their  Catholic  neighbours. 
They  might  differ  upon  every  other  point — on 
this  at  least  there  was  no  room  for  disagreement. 
Martin  Luther,  with  his  usual  decision,  makes  his 
attitude  perfectly  clear,  "  I  have  no  compassion 
on  these  witches.  I  would  burn  them  all."  Per- 
haps one  reason  for  this  uncompromising  attitude 
may  have  been  his  contempt  for  Satan's  snares, 
of  which  he  had  considerable  experience.  So 
accustomed  did  he  grow  to  the  assaults  of  the 
Devil  that,  having  been  once,  as  it  is  related, 
awakened  at  dead  of  night  by  an  alarming  clatter, 
"  he  perceived  that  it  was  only  the  Devil  and  so 
went  to  sleep  again.''  Calvin,  again,  says  of 
Psalm  v.,  6,  "  If  there  were  no  charms  of  sorcery, 
this  were  but  a  childish  and  absurd  thing  which  is 
here  written."  It  is  true  that  Protestant  and 
Catholic  regarded  the  witchcraft  question  from 
diametrically  opposite  standpoints.  Whereas  the 
Roman  Church  regarded  heretics  as  a  variety  of 
witch,  the  Reformers  were  inclined  to  regard 
Catholic  rites  and  forms  as  among  the  most 
virulent  of  the  black  arts.  At  a  somewhat  later 
date,  during  the  New  England  persecutions,  a  girl 
was  deposed  to  have  been  allowed,  by  the  Devil, 
to  read  "  Popish  Books  " — such  as  "  Cambridge 
and  Oxford  Tracts  " — while  good  Protestant 
works,  as  "  The  Bible  Assemblies'  Catechism  "  or 

194 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

Colton's  "  Milk  for  Babes  "  sent  her,  being  in 
the  power  of  the  Devil,  into  violent  convulsions  ! 
However  enduring  might  be  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  judges,  the  commonalty  in  time  grew  sated 
with  the  spectacle  of  their  own  and  their  friends' 
aunts  and  grandmothers  being  burned  to  ashes  for 
the  glory  of  God.  Witch-trials  and  witch-burn- 
ings, however  dramatically  exciting,  were  lacking 
in  variety — and  were  expensive  as  well  as  enter- 
taining. While  the  energy  of  the  Inquisitors  was 
stimulated  by  the  forfeiture — in  their  favour — of 
the  witch's  worldly  goods — the  community  had  to 
lose  them,  such  as  they  were,  besides  suffering 
complete  disorganisation  of  daily  business  routine. 
There  were  even  those — difficult  of  belief  as  it 
may  seem — who  so  far  risked  their  chance  of 
Paradise  as  to  sicken  at  the  continuance  of  such 
useless  bloodshed  and  to  grow  sceptical  as  to  the 
singlemindedness  of  its  promoters.  Such  a  one 
was  the  humane  and  learned  Dr.  Wierus,  who, 
in  1563,  published  at  Basel  his  famous  volume, 
"  De  Praestigiis."  At  the  time,  indeed,  this  plea 
for  the  witch  as  the  victim  rather  than  the  ally  of 
Satan,  served  only  to  fan  the  flame  of  persecu- 
tion, by  the  bitter  controversy  to  which  it  gave 
rise,  though  subsequently  quenching  it  in  no  small 
degree.  Although,  needless  to  say,  a  firm  be- 
liever in  the  reality  of  the  black  art,  Wierus 
branded  it  as  the  direct  rather  than  the  indirect 
work  of  the  Devil.     As  helpless  victims,  there- 

195  o  2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

fore,  his  agents  should  not  be  punished  for  crimes 
in  which  their  human  frailty  was  alone  guilty. 
He  adopted,  in  a  word,  towards  the  witch,  the 
modern  attitude  towards  the  dangerous  lunatic — 
that  she  should  be  restrained  rather  than  punished. 
He  even  displays  a  certain  contempt  for  her 
powers — understanding,  in  the  light  of  his  own 
medical  knowledge,  that  many  so-called  cases  of 
bewitchment  or  demoniacal  possession,  were  the 
result  of  purely  natural  causes.  Like  his  contem- 
poraries, Wierus  concludes  that  the  Devil  chooses 
women  rather  than  men  to  do  his  will  as  being 
easier  to  influence.  Naturally  malicious  and  im- 
patient, they  are  unable  to  control  their  affections 
and  are  all  too  credulous — qualities  of  which 
Satan  takes  every  advantage.  Particularly  does  he 
appreciate  stupid,  weak  old  women,  the  shakiness 
of  whose  wits  places  them  the  more  surely  in  his 
power.  Wierus  parts  company  from  his  contem- 
poraries in  urging  that  this  very  frailty  should 
arouse  compassion — that  they  should  be  pitied 
rather  than  treated  as  stubborn  heretics — and  that 
if  punished  they  should  be  treated  less  severely 
than  were  men,  because  of  this  infirmity  of  their 
sex. 

Not  content  with  stirring  up  doubt  as  to  the 
spiritual  nature  of  witchcraft,  Wierus  has  the  au- 
dacity to  question  the  motives  of  some  of  its 
judges.  He  quotes  an  example  of  the  profitable 
side  of  the  witch-mania  as  having  happened  in 

196 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

Wurtemburg.  The  skins  of  animals  that  died  by 
mischance  there  became  the  property  of  the 
executioner.  This  functionary  evidently  pos- 
sessed a  spirit  far  in  advance  of  his  age, 
for  coincidently  with  the  rise  of  a  local 
witch-mania,  a  fatal  epidemic — attributed,  of 
course,  to  v/itchcraft — broke  out  among  the  sheep, 
pigs,  and  oxen  of  the  neighbourhood.  The  execu- 
tioner grew  rich — and  had  not  the  wisdom  to 
conceal  it.  The  jealous  suspicions  of  his  neigh- 
bours were  aroused,  he  was  put  to  the  torture, 
confessed  to  having  poisoned  the  animals,  and 
was  condemned  to  be  torn  to  pieces  with  pincers. 

Wierus  had  studied  the  natural  history  of  the 
witch  no  less  closely  than  his  predecessor,  the 
Inquisitor  Sprenger.  Indeed,  judging  from  some 
of  the  charges  brought  against  them  at  contem- 
porary trials,  we  may  agree  with  him  that  they 
were  more  suited  to  the  attentions  of  a  physician 
than  of  a  judge.  Thus,  among  the  commonest  of 
their  crimes — as  frequently  proved  by  their  own 
confession,  it  is  to  be  remembered — were  the 
dishonouring  of  the  crucifix  and  the  denial  of 
salvation,  the  absconding,  despite  bolts  and  bars, 
to  attend  the  Devil's  Sabbath  and  the  partaking 
in  choral  dances  around  the  witch-tree  of  rendez- 
vous. Remigius  tells  us  that  many  confessed  to 
having  changed  themselves  into  cats,  to  having 
belaboured  running  water  with  rods  in  order  to 
bring  about  bad  weather — more  particularly  hail- 

197 


The  Book  of  Witches 

storms — and  other  doings  of  the  kind  customary 
to  witches  of  all  the  ages.  Wierus,  v/ho  was 
held  to  be  a  disciple  of  that  prince  of  sorcerers, 
Cornelius  Agrippa,  was  naturally  as  expert  in  all 
things  relating  to  the  Devil  and  his  kingdom  as 
to  his  earthly  slaves.  No  modern  revivalist 
could  exceed  the  minuteness  of  his  knowledge, 
nor,  indeed,  the  thoroughness  expressed  in  his 
detailing  of  it.  He  even  seems  to  have  taken  a 
census  of  the  more  official  population  in  the 
under-world,  enumerating  seventy-two  princes  of 
evil,  who  rule  over  seven  million  four  hundred 
and  five  thousand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-six 
devils  of  inferior  rank. 

Fifteen  years  after  the  publication  of  "  De 
Prsestigiis,''  appeared  Jean  Bodin's  counterblast. 
The  eminent  jurist  was  well  qualified  to  speak, 
having  done  some  persecuting  on  his  own  account 
and  thus  gained  first-hand  experience  of  the  ways 
and  customs  of  the  witch.  To  him  the  theories 
of  Wierus  appeared  as  those  either  of  a  very 
ignorant  or  of  a  very  wicked  man.  The  sugges- 
tion that  witches  and  sorcerers  should  be  pitied 
rather  than  punished  appeared  to  him  to  aim  a 
blow  at  the  very  framework  of  society,  human  and 
divine,  and  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  refute  Wierus 
and  all  his  works,  "  not  through  hatred,  but 
primarily  for  the  honour  of  God."  He  also  gives 
detailed  accounts  of  the  various  kinds  of  witches, 
but  unlike  Wierus  discreetly  refrains  from  setting 

198 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  EiFects 

down  the  spells  and  invocations  to  the  Devil  with 
which  he  is  acquainted,  lest,  falling  into  the 
hands  of  the  evilly  disposed,  improper  use  be 
made  of  them.  For  such  crimes  as  those  habitu- 
ally committed  by  witches  he  can  find  no  penalty 
severe  enough,  while  as  to  Wierus'  plea  that 
allowance  be  made  for  the  weakness  of  women  he 
quotes  approvingly  the  law,  that  "  the  punish- 
ment for  witchcraft  shall  not  be  diminished  for 
women  as  is  the  case  in  all  other  crimes." 

England  was  in  no  way  singular  from  the  rest 
of  Europe  in  her  method  of  approaching  the 
question,  though  her  persecutions  were  on  a 
smaller  scale.  The  Act  of  1541  whereby  various 
kinds  of  sorcery,  such  as  the  destruction  of  a 
neighbour's  goods  or  person,  the  making  of 
images  or  pictures  of  men,  women,  children, 
angels,  devils,  beasts  and  fowls  for  magical  pur- 
poses, were  declared  felony  without  benefit  of 
clergy,  was  repealed  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. 
Another,  distinguishing  the  various  grades  of 
witchcraft,  was  passed  in  1562.  By  it,  conjura- 
tions, invocations  of  evil  spirits,  the  practice  of 
sorceries,  enchantments,  charms  and  witchcrafts 
w^hereby  deaths  resulted  were  declared  felony, 
without  benefit  of  clergy,  and  punishable  with 
death.  If  only  bodily  harm  ensued,  the  penalty 
for  the  first  offence  was  a  year's  imprisonment  and 
exposure  in  the  pillory,  and  for  the  second,  death. 
Notwithstanding   such   laws,   the   highest  in  the 

199 


The  Book  of  Witches 

land  v/ere  not  averse  to  personal  dealings  with 
followers  of  the  black  art.  Queen  Elizabeth  her- 
self so  far  exercised  her  royal  prerogative  as  to 
have  been — unless  rumour  lie — on  excellent 
terms  with  Dr.  John  Dee,  the  eminent  crystal- 
gazer,  whose  "  black  stone  ''  is  now  in  the  British 
Museum.  In  Scotland  the  principal  Act  was 
passed  in  1563.  By  it  the  practice  of  witchcraft, 
sorcery  and  necromancy,  the  pretence  of  possess- 
ing magical  knowledge,  and  the  seeking  of  help 
from  witches  were  declared  capital  offences. 

It  says  much  for  the  common  sense  of  the  Eng- 
lish nation  that  it  should,  at  such  a  period,  have 
produced  so  enlightened  a  writer  on  the  subject 
as  was  Reginald  Scot.  As  against  his  contem- 
porary, Holland,  who,  writing  in  1590,  urges  that 
since  witches  were  in  the  Bible,  "  shall  Satan  be 
less  cruel  now?  ",  Scot,  in  "  The  Discoverie  of 
Witchcraft,"  scoffs  at  "  Sprenger's  fables  and 
Bodin's  babies  " — a  conceit  that  must  have 
afforded  him  infinite  satisfaction.  "  I  denie 
not,"  he  argues,  "  that  there  are  witches  or  images, 
but  I  detest  the  idolatrous  opinions  conceived  of 
them."  And  again  :  "  I  am  well  assured  that  if 
all  the  old  women  in  the  world  were  witches,  and 
all  the  priests  conjurers,  we  should  not  have  a 
drop  of  rain  the  more  or  the  less  for  them."-  The 
suggestion  of  priests  as  conjurers  is,  of  course,  a 
hit  at  "  Papish  practices,"  and  another  descrip- 
tion of  witches  as  "  Papists  "  betrays  his  religious 

200 


The  Witch- Bull  and  its  Effects 

attitude.  It  must  be  said  that  the  Anglican 
Church  was  inclined  towards  tolerance — the 
severe  witch-persecutions  in  these  islands,  which 
I  detail  elsewhere,  being  chiefly  due  to  that 
Puritan  spirit  which  dwelt  with  more  satisfaction 
on  the  sins  than  the  virtues  of  mankind.  For 
just  as  it  has  been  said  that  the  only  antagonist 
more  redoubtable  on  the  battle-field  than  a  swear- 
ing Irishman  is  a  praying  Scotsman,  so  the 
Puritan  was  a  deadlier  persecutor  of  witches  than 
the  most  zealous  Inquisitor.  This  with  good 
reason,  if  we  remember  that  the  Catholic  offered 
the  chance  of  Heaven  to  anyone  who  was  not  an 
obstinate  heretic ;  while  the  Puritan  was  of  much 
the  same  opinion  as  the  old  Scotswoman,  who, 
having  with  her  brother  seceded  from  the  local 
kirk,  and  being  asked  by  the  minister  whether  she 
seriously  believed  that  no  one  but  her  brother 
and  herself  would  be  saved,  replied  that  she  had 
grave  doubts  about  her  brother. 

James  L,  although  upon  his  succession  to  the 
English  throne  he  found  the  Episcopacy  well 
suited  to  his  theories  of  kingship,  yet  preserved 
the  Puritanical  sense  of  other  people's  sinfulness 
in  his  heart.  To  this  no  less  than  to  his  desire  for 
literary  laurels,  is  to  be  ascribed  his  painstaking — 
not  to  say  pedantic — "  Dsemonologia,"  published 
in  1597,  which  the  loyal  Hutchinson  excuses  in 
his  "  HistoricaF  Essay  on  Witchcraft  "—excuses 
on  the   ground   of  his   youth   and  inexperience. 

201 


The  Book  of  Witches 

James,  needless  to  say,  saw  no  need  of  apolog)^ 
for  the  benefit  he  was  conferring  on  mankind 
in  general  and  his  subjects  in  particular.  In  his 
love  for  police-court  details,  indeed,  he  showed 
himself  altogether  at  one  with  his  subjects, 
if  we  may  judge  from  the  taste  of  their 
present-day  descendants.  He  had,  again, 
every  right  to  consider  himself  an  authority  on 
his  subject,  as  one  who  had  himself  suffered  from 
magical  machinations.  A  Protestant  King  seek- 
ing a  Protestant  bride,  he  suffered  all  the  terrors 
and  discomforts  of  a  temptuous  crossing  from 
Denmark,  brought  about  through  his  earthly 
agents  by  Satan,  filled  with  wrath  and  consterna- 
tion at  the  alliance  of  two  such  powerful  enemies 
of  his  kingdom.  As  he  might  have  expected,  his 
plans  were  brought  to  nought,  and  his  servants, 
Agnes  Simpson  and  Dr.  Fian,  suffered  the  appro- 
priate penalty,  the  last-named  especially  being 
subjected  to  perhaps  the  most  sickening  torture 
on  record.  King  James  showed  so  close  an 
interest  in  the  minutiae  of  the  black  art  that  had 
he  moved  in  a  less  exalted  sphere  he  might  well 
have  come  under  suspicion  himself.  Thus  on 
one  occasion  he  sent  for  Grellis  Duncan,  a  per- 
former on  the  Jews'  harp,  and  caused  her  to  play 
before  him  the  identical  tune  to  which  Satan  and 
his  companions  led  the  brawl  at  a  Sabbath  in 
North  Berwick  churchyard.  It  is  true,  as  against 
this,    that   many   witches  executed   in  his   reign 

202 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  EfFects 

quoted  infernal  pronouncements  that  the  King 
was  "  un  homme  de  Dieu  "  and  Satan's  greatest 
enemy — a  form  of  homage  which  so  whetted  the 
Royal  ardour  that  few  juries  ventured,  with  the 
fear  of  his  displeasure  before  them,  to  acquit  any 
of  their  unhappy  victims. 

In  the  "  Daemonologia  "  James  shows  every 
sign  of  keen  enjoyment.  He  writes  after  the 
manner  of  the  most  eminent — and  tedious — 
divines,  dividing  his  matter  into  firstlies,  secondlies, 
and  thirdlies — divisions  and  sub-divisions,  head- 
ings and  sub-headings,  with  royal  prodigality.  He 
is  fearfully  and  wonderfully  theological — and 
occasionally  indulges  in  touches  of  elephantine 
lightness  such  as  might  well  have  given  pause 
to  the  most  obstinate  sorcerer.  His  preface, 
eminently  characteristic  of  the  whole,  opens  thus  : 
— "  The  f careful  abounding  at  this  time  in 
this  countrie  of  these  detestable  slaves  of  the 
Divil,  the  witches  or  enchaunters,  hath  moved  me 
(beloved  reader)  to  dispatch  in  post  this  following 
Treatise  of  mine,  not  in  any  wise  (as  I  protest) 
to  serve  for  a  shewe  of  my  learning  and  ingine, 
but  only  (moved  of  conscience)  to  preasse  thereby, 
so  f arre  as  I  can,  to  resolve  the  doubting  heart  of 
manie ;  both  that  such  assaults  of  Sathan  are  most 
certainly  practised,  and  ■  that  the  instruments 
thereof  merit  most  severely  to  be  punished.  .  .  . 
And  for  to  make  this  Treatise  the  more  pleasant 
and  facill,  I  have  put  it  in  forme  of  a  Dialogue  " 

203 


The  Book  of  Witches 

— an  unwonted  concession  to  the  public  taste,  this 
last,  on  the  part  of  one  who  believed  so  firmly  in 
the  Divine  Right  of  Kings, 

In  common  with  most  dogmatists  on  the  sub- 
ject, James  declares  that  the  great  majority  of 
witches  are  women,  woman  being  the  frailer 
vessel,  and  therefore,  like  Eve,  more  easily  en- 
trapped by  the  Devil  than  those  of  his  own  sex. 
He  recapitulates  many  of  their  commonly-quoted 
misdeeds,  and  relates  how  Satan  teaches  them 
"  to  make  pictures  by  wax  or  clay,"  which,  being 
roasted,  utterly  destroy  the  person  they  represent. 
To  some  he  gives  powders  such  as  cure  certain 
diseases,  to  others  poisons,  and  so  on  and  so 
forth.  For  the  practice  of  such  infernal  arts  the 
English  Solon  declares  that  witches  and  magicians 
should  be  put  to  death  without  distinction  of  sex, 
age,  or  rank. 

Such  august  patronage  of  their  efforts  served 
the  ever-increasing  tribe  of  professional  witch- 
finders  in  good  stead,  and  the  Act  of  1563  was 
enforced  more  stringently  than  ever.  The  trials 
were  sometimes  held  in  the  ordinary  courts,  more 
often  before  special  tribunals,  set  up,  as  a  rule, 
on  the  petition  of  a  presbytery  or  of  the  Grand 
Assembly.  For  the  greater  convenience  and 
protection  of  the  pubHc,  boxes  were  placed  in 
many  churches  to  receive  anonymous  accusations, 
giving  magnificent  opportunity  to  slanderers  and 
backbiters.     To  such  a  pitch  had  matters  come 

204 


The  Witch-Bull  and  its  Effects 

by  1 66 1  that  Parliament  directed  the  judges  to 
visit  Dalkeith  and  Musselburgh,  two  notorious 
centres  of  the  art  magical,  twice  a  week  to  try 
those  accused.  In  these  trials  any  evidence  was 
relevant,  especially  if  put  forward  by  professional 
witch-finders  or  witch-pinchers,  while  the  ordinary 
methods  of  torture  were  aggravated  when  con- 
fessions were  sought  for,  in  view  of  the  Devil's 
penchant  for  protecting  his  own. 

The  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  saw  the  com- 
mencement of  a  series  of  persecutions  fiercer  and 
more  general  than  perhaps  any  which  had  pre- 
ceded them,  which  did  not  finally  die  out  before 
the  rising  sun  of  common-sense  until  almost  our 
grandfathers'  time,  and  which  were  carried  to 
almost  greater  extremes  in  the  New  World  than 
in  the  Old. 


205 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  LATER  PERSECUTIONS  IN  ENGLAND 

The  law — especially  in  this  country — gains  half 
its  terrors  from  its  pomp  and  circumstance.  An 
English  prisoner,  condemned  to  death  by  a  wig- 
less  judge,  might  well  regard  himself  as  mur- 
dered— and  few  Englishmen  that  have  attended 
an  American  court  of  law  but  have  felt  scanda- 
lised by  its  lack  of  ceremonious  decency,  even  if 
they  have  accepted  its  decrees  as  just.  Indeed,  it 
is  scarcely  too  much  to  hold  that  the  firm  belief 
in  the  corruptibility  of  the  American  judge  and 
the  one-sidedness  of  American  justice,  which 
every  Englishman  cherishes  as  his  birthright, 
was  originally  based  upon  his  distaste  for  this 
lack  of  appropriate  ceremonial. 

If  this  judicial  dignity  be  needed  even  for  the 
trial  of  an  ordinary  fellow  mortal,  how  much  more 
must  it  be  needed  when  Satan  himself  and  his 
human  agents  are  at  the  bar.  Accordingly,  we 
find  the  inquisitor  or  judge  always  ultra-punc- 
tilious in  bringing  all  due  form  and  ceremony  to 
bear  upon  a  witch-trial.     No  detail  was  without 

206 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

its  special  significance,  no  circumstance  too  trivial 
for  august  consideration,  the  more  so  that  from  its 
very  nature  a  witch-trial  could  not  exactly  follow 
ordinary  procedure.  The  power  of  Satan — ^in  the 
seventeenth  century  at  any  rate — ^was  more  than 
a  match  even  for  the  trained  legal  intellect,  and 
special  precautions  were  necessary  to  provide  for 
the  safety  of  the  judge  and  the  conviction  of  the 
witch.  So  exhaustive  were  these  precautions,  in- 
deed, that  we  can  find  no  trace  that  any  judge  in 
England  or  elsewhere  was  ever  injured  by  the 
assaults  of  the  Devil,  when  in  court,  while  but 
very  few  witches,  once  put  on  trial,  succeeded  in 
escaping  conviction — the  accusation  being,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  tantamount  to  a  verdict  of 
guilty. 

A  host  of  precautionary  measures  to  be  taken 
by  the  judge  when  the  witch  was  brought  into 
court,  have  been  recorded.  On  no  account  must 
he  allow  her  to  touch  him,  especially,  as  Reginald 
Scot  has  it,  "  upon  his  bare."  He  must  wear 
about  his  neck  "  conjured  salt,  palms,  herbes,  and 
halowed  waxe."  The  prisoner  must  approach 
the  judge  backwards — just  as  she  approaches 
Satan's  throne  at  the  Sabbath,  by  the  way — and  he 
must  make  the  sign  of  the  cross  frequently  the 
while.  As  we  have  seen,  any  evidence,  even  of 
those  debarred  from  testifying  in  ordinary  cases, 
might  be  given  against  a  witch.  This,  of  course, 
provided  an  excellent  opportunity  for  the  dis- 

207 


The  Book  of  Witches 

honest  servant,  who,  having  stolen  his  mistress' 
property  and  with  it  levanted,  need  only  accuse 
her  of  witchcraft  to  escape  any  unpleasant  conse- 
quences to  himself.  It  was,  however,  the  only 
means  by  which  the  law  could  escape  from  the 
horns  of  a  serious  dilemma — as  none  that  are 
honest  can  detect  a  witch.  Again,  she  must  be 
denied  any  chance  of  proving  her  innocence — or 
the  Devil  will  certainly  take  full  advantage  of  it 
on  her  behalf,  and  once  arrested,  she  must  on  no 
account  be  allowed  to  leave  the  prison  or  go  home. 
Popular  suspicion,  presumption,  and  conjecture 
are  sufficient  to  ensure  a  conviction,  for  in  such 
a  case  Vox  populi  is  emphatically  Vox  Dei.  Con- 
fession must,  however,  be  extorted  at  all  costs.  As 
the  great  Inquisitor,  Sprenger,  from  whose  au- 
thoritative pronouncements  I  have  already  quoted 
freely,  has  it:  "If  she  confess  nothing  she 
must  be  dismissed  according  to  the  law;  there- 
fore every  care  must  be  taken  to  ensure  con- 
fession." 

Before  burning  the  witch,  it  was,  however, 
necessary  to  catch  her.  Here  —  and  more 
particularly  in  England  —  private  enterprise 
stepped  in  to  supplement  public  effort.  Witch- 
finding  offered  a  respectable  and  lucrative 
career  for  anyone  gifted  with  the  requisite 
imagination,  and  provided  a  safe  opening  for 
those  who  had  failed  in  other  walks  of  life. 
Enterprise,  imagination,  the  form  of  facile  expres- 

208 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

sion,  the  instinct  of  sensationalism,  and  so  forth 
— were  all  necessary  for  the  finished  witch- 
finder,  it  is  true.  The  names  of  many  have  come 
down  to  us,  but  none  more  fully  earned  the 
prophetic  title  of  the  Napoleon  of  witch-finding 
than  Matthew  Hopkins,  who  alone  gained,  by  his 
eminent  services  to  the  public,  a  "  handle  to  his 
name  " — that  of  "  Witch-Finder  General."  Hop- 
kins, who  flourished  in  the  mid-seventeenth  cen- 
tury, gauged  the  public  taste  in  v/itch-sensation  to 
a  nicety — and  elevated  his  trade  to  an  exact 
science.  Yet  curiously  enough,  he  only  entered  it 
by  accident,  owing  to  an  epidemic  of  witchcraft  in 
his  native  town  of  Manningtree.  His  public  spirit 
leading  him  to  take  a  prominent  part  in  the  dis- 
covery and  punishment  of  the  culprits,  it  became 
plainly  evident  in  which  direction  his  talents  could 
be  best  employed,  and  what  had  been  a  hobby 
became  his  life-work.  His  position  having  been 
legalised,  he  adopted  the  manner  of  a  judge,  tak- 
ing regular  circuits  through  the  four  counties 
which  he  more  particularly  took  under  his 
protection,  or  giving  his  services  to  any  towns 
applying  for  them  at  the  extremely  modest 
charge  of  twenty  shillings  and  expenses.  More 
than  a  hundred  witches  were  brought  to  punish- 
ment by  his  painstaking  exertions,  though  perhaps 
his  greatest  triumph  was  achieved  in  the  case  of 
the  Reverend  Mr.  Lewis,  the  "  reading  "  parson 
of  Framlingham.  Mr.  Lewis  was  a  churchman,  and 

209  p 


The  Book  of  Witches 

as  such  regarded  as  a  malignant  by  the  Puritan 
Government,  and,  needless  to  say,  by  Mr,  Hop- 
kins, himself  a  Puritan  of  the  most  orthodox  type. 
Mr.  Lewis,  being  eighty-five  years  of  age,  v/as 
tortured  after  Mr.  Hopkins'  recipe,  and  was  so 
brought  to  confess  that  he  had  made  a  compact 
with  Satan,  that  he  kept  two  imps,  and  that  he  had 
sunk  several  ships  by  his  magic  arts.  He  was  duly 
hanged,  though  it  is  satisfactory  to  know  that  at 
his  death  he  withdrew  the  confession  his  human 
weakness  had  extorted  from  him  and  died  with 
a  dignity  becoming  his  age  and  cloth. 

As  was  only  to  be  expected  in  this  imperfect 
world,  Mr.  Hopkins'  just  severity  and  proper  dis- 
regard for  sickly  sentimentality  brought  him  many 
enemies,  some  of  whom  no  doubt  were  inspired  by 
envy  of  his  professional  success.  Although 
cheered  by  the  understanding  sympathy  of  the 
superior  class,  including  among  them  no  less  a 
person  than  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  England,  he  was  continually  attacked,  both 
publicly  and  privately,  by  people  who  ought  to 
have  known  better.  One  of  the  most  virulent  of 
these  was  one  Mr.  Gaule,  minister  of  Great 
Stoughton,  in  Fluntingdon,  who  not  only  wrote 
and  preached  against  Hopkins  and  his  methods, 
but  refused  him  permission  to  conduct  a  witch- 
hunt at  Stoughton.  Stung  to  the  heart  by  such 
ingratitude,  Mr.  Hopkins  set  forth  his  side  of  the 
argument  in  a  letter  which  Mr.  Gaule  himself  sub- 

2IO 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

sequently  gave  to  the  world.  It  is  sufficiently  char- 
acteristic to  bear  re-quotation  : 

"  My  Service  to  your  Worship  presented.  I 
have  this  day  received  a  letter  not  to  come  to  a 
Toune  called  Great  Stoughton,  to  search  for  evil- 
disposed  persons,  called  Witches  (though  I  heare 
your  Minister  is  farre  against  us  through  Ignor- 
ance :)  I  intend  to  come  the  sooner  to  heare  his 
singular  Judgment  in  the  Behalf e  of  such  Parties; 
I  have  known  a  Minister  in  Suffolk  preach  as 
much  against  this  Discovery  in  a  Pulpit,  and 
forced  to  recant  it  by  the  Committee  in  the  same 
Place.  I  much  marvaile  such  evil  Members 
should  have  any,  much  more  any  of  the  Clergy, 
who  should  daily  preach  Terrour  to  convince 
such  Offenders,  stand  up  to  take  their  Parts, 
against  such  as  are  complainants  for  the  King  and 
Sufferers  themselves,  with  their  Families  and 
Estates.  I  intend  to  give  your  Toune  a  visit  sud- 
denly. I  am  to  come  to  Kimbolton  this  Weeke, 
and  it  shall  be  tenne  to  one,  but  I  will  come  to 
your  Toune  first,  but  I  would  certainly  know  afore 
whether  your  Toune  affords  many  sticklers  for 
such  Cattell,  or  willing  to  give  and  afford  as  good 
Welcome  and  Entertainment  as  other  where  I 
have  beene,  else  I  shall  wave  your  Shire  (not  as 
yet  beginning  in  any  Part  of  it  myself)  and  betake 
me  to  such  Places,  where  I  doe,  and  may,  persist 
without  Controle,  but  with  Thanks  and  Recom- 
pense.    So  I  humbly  take  my  leave  and  rest. 

211  P    2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Your  Servant  to  be  Commanded,  Matthew 
Hopkins/' 

Mr.  Gaule,  however  ill-advised,  proved  himself 
no  despicable  antagonist.  He  turned  the  batteries 
of  ridicule  against  the  worthy  witch-findeir, 
and  his  methods,  which  he  describes  as 
follows :  "  Having  taken  the  suspected  Witch, 
she  is  placed  in  the  middle  of  a  room 
upon  a  stool  or  table,  cross-legged  or  in 
some  other  uneasy  Posture,  to  which  if  she  sub- 
mits not  she  is  then  bound  with  cords ;  there  she  is 
watched  and  kept  without  Meat  or  Sleep  for  the 
space  of  Four  and  Twenty  Hours  (for  they  say 
within  that  time  they  shall  see  her  Imp  come  and 
suck).  A  little  Hole  is  likewise  made  in  the  door, 
for  her  Imp  to  come  in  at — lest  it  should  come  in 
some  less  discernible  shape.  They  that  watch  her 
are  taught  to  be  ever  and  anon  sweeping  the 
Room,  and  if  they  see  any  Spiders  or  Flies,  to  kill 
them,  and  if  they  cannot  kill  them,  then  they  may 
be  sure  they  are  her  Imps."- 

But  however  earnest  in  their  errors  might  be 
Mr.  Gaule  and  those  who  supported  him,  it  was 
long  ere  they  could  find  many  supporters  in 
their  crusade  against  one  who  had  so  struck  the 
public  imagination.  Hopkins'  methods  of  torture 
might  be  severe,  but  they  produced  results — such 
as  the  following : — "  One  Penitent  Woman  con- 
fessed that  her  mother,  lying  sick,  and  she  looking 
at  her,  somewhat  like  a  Mole  ran  into  the  bed  to 

212 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

her,  which  she  being  startled  at,  her  mother  bade 
her  not  fear  it,  but  gave  it  her,  saying,  "  Keep 
this  in  a  Pot  by  the  fire  and  thou  shalt  never 
want."     And  so  on  and  so  forth. 

In  the  end,  however,  as  too  often  happens,  envy 
triumphed  over  modest  merit,  and  Hopkins  had 
to  pay  the  penalty  that  usually  awaits  the  popular 
idol.  Either  his  severity  outran  his  discretion, 
or  he  showed  too  openly  his  belief  that  the  chief 
object  of  a  profession  is  to  provide  a  handsome 
income ;  or  perhaps  his  inventive  faculties  did  not 
keep  pace  with  the  public  desire.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  his  fall,  when  it  came,  was  heavy.  It  is  even 
said,  on  reputable  authority,  that  Hopkins  was 
himself,  at  the  last,  accused  of  witchcraft,  that 
he  was  tried  by  one  of  his  own  methods,  that  of 
"  swimming,''  and  that  like  many  of  the  old 
women  he  had  tried,  he  ''  swam,"  was  accordingly 
found  guilty,  and  executed.  It  may  be  agreed 
that,  like  the  story  of  Phalaris  destroyed  in  the 
fiery  bronze  bull  of  his  own  devising,  or  of  Dr. 
Guillotin,  first  to  suffer  on  the  guillotine  he  had 
invented,  this  end  of  Hopkins  has  too  much  of 
poetic  justice  about  it  to  be  altogether  credible. 
But  in  all  that  has  to  do  with  witchcraft,  faith 
is  a  matter  of  opinion,  so  there  we  may  leave  it. 

That  Matthew  Hopkins  initiated  new  methods 
of  witch-finding  by  no  means  implies  that  there 
was  any  lack  of  such  before  his  time.  Where  the 
simple   rule-of-thumb   torture    failed    to    extract 

213 


The  Book  of  Witches 

the  requisite  confession,  a  further  range,  subtler 
and  more  exquisite,  came  into  play.  No  witch 
could  say  the  Lord's  Prayer — a  possible  enough 
contingency  under  great  nervous  strain  even  for 
a  good  Christian.  Thus  Fairfax  relates  hov/ 
Thorp's  wife,  accused  of  bewitching  his  children, 
being  put  to  this  test,  could  not  say  "  Forgive 
us  our  trespasses,"  and  thus  convinced  the  justices 
of  her  guilt.  Another  method  much  practised  by 
Hopkins  was  the  searching  for  the  Devil-marks. 
These  marks,  as  we  have  said,  were  the  corporeal 
proofs  of  her  contract  with  Satan,  borne  by  every 
witch  upon  some  part  of  her  body,  and  were 
further  the  places  whereat  her  imps  came  to  suck 
her  blood.  Few  witches — ^which  is  to  say,  sus- 
pects— ^were  ever  found  to  pass  this  test  satis- 
factorily— a  fact  the  less  surprising  in  that  any 
blemish,  birth-mark,  or  even  insect-bite  was 
accepted  by  special  legal  injunction  as  sufficient 
evidence.  The  witch-mark  was  believed  to  be 
insensible  to  pain,  whence  arose  the  popular  and 
lucrative  profession  of  "  witch-pricking."  The 
witch-pricker,  having  blindfolded  the  witch,  pro- 
ceeded to  prick  her  in  suspected  places  with  a 
three-inch  pin,  afterwards  telling  her  to  point  out 
to  him  the  places  where  she  felt  pain.  If  the 
suspect,  half-crazed  with  shame  and  terror,  was 
unable  to  do  so  with  sufficient  exactitude,  the  spot 
was  declared  insensible,  and  her  conviction  fol- 
lowed.      Before  the  actual  pricking,  when  the 

214 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

witch  had  been  stripped  of  her  clothes,  she  was 
shaven,  lest  she  should  have  concealed  in  her  hair 
some  charm  against  confession  under  torture. 
Great  care  was  taken  at  the  same  time  lest  the 
Devil,  by  sucking  blood  from  her  little  finger  or 
left  foot,  should  make  it  impossible  for  her  to 
confess.  Further,  as  a  witch  was  notoriously 
unable  to  shed  tears,  another  test  of  her  guilt  was 
to  call  upon  her  to  weep  to  order — very  much  as 
Miss  Haversham  in  "  Great  Expectations  "  com- 
manded Little  Pip,  "  Now,  play !  " 

Most  popular  test  of  all,  as  taking  place  in  the 
open  and  thus  providing  a  general  holiday,  was 
witch-ducking  or  "  swimming.''  So  near  was  it 
to  the  great  heart  of  the  British  public  that  its 
celebration  continued  informally  well  into  the 
nineteenth  century.  In  Monmouth,  so  late  as 
1829,  several  persons  were  tried  for  the  ducking 
of  a  supposed  witch;  while  in  1857  the  Vicar  of 
East  Thorpe,  in  Essex — perhaps  the  most  noted 
witch-stronghold  in  England — was  compelled  to 
mount  guard  in  person  over  the  door  of  a  suspected 
witch  to  prevent  her  from  undergoing  a  similar 
fate.  The  procedure  was  of  the  simplest.  The 
thumbs  and  great  toes  of  the  suspect  were  tied 
across,  and  she  was  thus  dragged  in  a  sheet  to 
a  pond  or  stream.  If  she  floated,  she  was  pro- 
nounced a  witch;  if  she  sank,  she  was  in  all 
probability  drowned.  Even  if  by  a  lucky  chance 
she  escaped  both  these  perils,  the  nervous  shock 

215 


The  Book  of  Witches 

— to  say  nothing  of  what  was  probably  the  first 
cold  bath  she  had  ever  experienced — acting  upon 
her  advanced  age,  gave  her  little  chance  of  final 
triumph  over  her  accusers.  Another  well-known 
and  popular  test  was  that  of  weighing  the  sus- 
pected witch  against  the  Church  Bible.  Had  the 
authorities  provided  one  of  more  than  comm.on 
weight  which  outweighed  her  skin  and  bone,  woe 
betide  her !  for  her  guilt  was  proved  beyond 
further  question. 

Such  forms  of  extraneous  evidence  were,  how- 
ever, held  in  less  store  than  was  the  obtaining  of 
a  definite  confession,  which  had  the  double 
advantage  of  justifying  the  judges  to  the  full  as 
well  as  of  convicting  the  accused.  Of  how  it 
might  be  obtained  Reginald  Scot  gives  us  a  vivid 
example.  "  The  seven  words  of  the  Cross,"  he 
says,  "  be  hanged  about  the  witch's  neck  and  the 
length  of  Christ  in  wax  be  knit  about  her  bare 
bodie  with  relikes  of  saints."  If  torture  and  other 
means  of  persuasion  cannot  obtain  a  confession, 
the  jailer  must  pretend  to  leave  her,  and  some  of 
her  friends  must  visit  her,  promising  that  if  she 
will  but  confess  they  will  help  her  to  escape  from 
prison.  Friday,  according  to  the  same  writer,  was 
the  most  auspicious  day  for  the  purpose.  As  to 
the  actual  torture,  the  prisoner  must  first  be 
stripped  lest  the  means  of  witchcraft  be  sewn  into 
her  clothing,  the  instruments  of  torture  being  so 
placed   that   she   has   an  uninterrupted   view  of 

216 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

them.  The  judge  then  exhorts  her  that  if  she 
remains  obstinate,  he  bids  the  attendants  make 
her  fast  to  the  strapado  or  other  chosen  instru- 
ment. Having  been  tortured,  she  is  taken  aside 
and  again  urged  to  confess  by  the  promise  of  thus 
escaping  the  death-penalty.  As  the  Church  con- 
veniently absolved  the  faithful  from  the  necessity 
of  keeping  faith  with  heretics  or  sorcerers,  this 
promise  was  never  kept.  To  put  it  briefly,  every 
possible  avenue  of  escape  was  denied  the  accused. 
Even  an  alibi,  however  complete,  was  unavailing, 
seeing  that  in  her  absence  her  place  was  always 
filled  by  a  demon. 

However  much  we  may  sympathise  with  the 
victims  of  such  judicial  proceedings,  it  would  be 
less  than  fair  to  blame  the  general  public  for  its 
attitude  towards  them  when  such  men  as  Black- 
stone  or  Sir  Matthew  Hale  were  convinced  of 
their  reasonableness.  Blackstone,  indeed,  one  of 
the  greatest  of  English  lawyers,  went  so  far  as  to 
declare  that  "  to  deny  the  possibility,  nay,  the 
actual  existence  of  witchcraft  is  at  once  flatly  to 
contradict  the  revealed  Word  of  God."  The 
attitude  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale,  Lord  Chief  Justice, 
an  enlightened  and  God-fearing  man,  may  best 
be  gathered  from  an  account  of  one  of  the  trials 
in  which  he  was  concerned.  In  1664,  at  St. 
Edmundsbury,  two  women.  Amy  Duny  and  Rose 
Cullender,  were  tried  before  him  upon  the  usual 
charges.     The  first  witness  was  Dorothy  Durent, 

217 


The  Book  of  Witches 

whose  child  was  under  the  care  of  Rose  Cullender. 
Dorothy  had  for  some  time  suspected  Rose 
of  bewitching  her  child — a  fact  which  throws  some 
doubt  upon  the  witness's  maternal  care  in  con- 
fiding her  offspring  to  such  a  nurse.  Eventually 
the  witness  consulted  a  witch-doctor,  a  proceed- 
ing which,  had  she  known  it,  rendered  her  liable 
to  conviction  as  well  as  Rose,  under  the  statute  of 
James  I.^  The  doctor  advised  her  to  hang  up  her 
child's  blanket  in  the  chimney,  which  she  did.  On 
taking  it  down  some  time  later,  she  was  horror- 
stricken  to  find  a  toad  in  it.  This  toad  she  had 
"  put  it  into  the  fire  and  held  it  there,  though  it 
made  a  great  and  horrible  noise,  and  flashed  like 
gunpowder  and  went  off  like  a  pistol,  and  then 
became  invisible,  and  that  by  this  the  prisoner  was 
scorched    and    burnt    lamentably."     Other    wit- 

1  **  If  any  person,  or  persons,  shall  use,  practise,  or  exer- 
cise any  invocation  or  conjuration  of  any  evil  and  wicked 
spirit,  or  shall  consult,  covenant  with,  entertain,  employ, 
find,  or  reward  any  evil  and  wicked  spirit,  to  or  for  any 
intent  or  purpose,  or  to  take  up  any  dead  man,  woman, 
or  child  out  of  his,  her,  or  their  grave,  or  any  other  place 
where  the  dead  body  resteth,  or  the  skin,  bone,  or  any 
part  of  any  dead  person  to  be  employed  or  used  in  any 
manner  of  witchcraft,  sorcery,  charm,  or  enchantment,  or 
shall  use,  practise,  or  exercise  any  witchcraft,  enchant- 
ment, charm,  or  sorcery  whereby  any  person  shall  be 
killed,  destroyed,  wasted,  consumed,  pined,  or  lamed  in 
his  or  her  body,  or  any  part  thereof,  every  such  offender  is 
a  felon  without  benefit  of  clergy. ' '  (This  i\ct  was  not  re- 
pealed until  1736.) 

218 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

nesses,  Mr.  Pacy  and  Edmund  Durent,  deposed 
that  Rose  Cullender  and  Amy  Duny  came  to 
them  to  buy  herrings,  and,  on  being  refused,  went 
away  grumbling.  Further,  it  appeared  that  Amy 
Duny  had  told  Cornelius  Sandwell's  wife  that  if 
she  did  not  fetch  her  geese  home,  they  would 
be  destroyed.  She  also  told  Cornelius  that  if  he 
did  not  attend  to  a  rickety  chimney  in  his  house 
it  would  fall.  John  Soan  deposed  that  he  had 
three  carts  wherein  to  carry  corn.  One  of  them 
"  wrenched  Amy  Duny's  house,  whereat  she 
scolded  him.  That  very  day  his  cart  overturned 
two  or  three  times,  and  his  children  had  fits." 
Probably  such  damning  evidence  would  have 
sufficed  by  itself.  It  was  driven  home  by  that 
of  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  who  declared  with 
dangerous  moderation  that  "  the  fits  were  natural, 
but  heightened  by  the  Devil  co-operating  with 
the  malice  of  the  Witches,  at  whose  Instance  he 
did  the  villainies."  This  was  too  much  for  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice.  He  "  was  in  such  fears  and 
proceeded  with  such  caution  that  he  would  not 
so  much  as  sum  up  the  evidence,  but  left  it  to  the 
Jury,  with  prayers  that  the  great  God  of  Heaven 
would  direct  their  hearts  in  this  weighty  manner." 
Needless  to  say,  the  jury  returned  a  sentence  of 
"  Guilty."  Amy  Duny  and  Rose  Cullenden  were 
hanged  at  Cambridge  accordingly,  obstinately 
refusing  to  confess,  and  no  sooner  were  they  dead 
than  the  afflicted  children  were  cured  of  their  fits 

219 


The  Book  of  Witches 

and  returned  to  the  best  of  health.  Which  can 
have  left  no  further  doubt  in  the  mind  of  Sir 
Matthew  Hale,  Lord  Chief  Baron  of  the  Court 
of  Exchequer,  as  to  the  justice  of  his  sentence, 
even  had  he  any  before. 

It  would  be  both  tedious  and  unprofitable  to 
trace  out  the  whole  long  history  of  witch-persecu- 
tion in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries. 
Their  details  are  invariably  nauseous,  and  differ 
only  in  the  slightest  degree;  having  heard  one, 
the  recapitulation  of  the  rest  can  be  of  interest 
only  to  the  moralist.  Some  of  the  more  famous 
examples  may  be  briefly  considered,  however,  as 
typical  of  the  rest.  I  have  already  referred  to 
the  case  of  the  Knaresborough  witches,  accused 
of  bewitching  the  children  of  Edward  Fairfax, 
the  scholar — a  case  the  more  remarkable  that  the 
six  women  accused,  although  tried  before  two 
successive  assizes,  were  finally  acquitted.  The 
lonely  moorlands  and  grim  wastes  of  the  Northern 
counties  were,  naturally  enough,  regarded  with 
suspicion  as  offering  very  eligible  lurking-places 
for  Satan's  agents,  and  accordingly  we  find  that 
the  majority  of  the  earlier  persecutions  concerned 
that  part  of  the  county.  Ten  years  before  the 
Knaresborough  trial — in  1612 — twenty  witches 
were  tried  "  at  the  Assizes  and  Generall  Gaole- 
Delivery,  holden  at  Lancaster,  before  Sir  Edward 
Bromley  and  Sir  James  Eltham."  They  came 
from  Pendle  Forest,  a  wild  district  on  the  eastern 

220 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

extremity  of  the  county,  and  the  most  prominent 
among  them  was  Elizabeth  Southernes,  more 
generally  known  as  Mother  Demdyke,  who,  by 
her  own  confession,  had  been  a  practising  witch 
for  nearly  half  a  century,  having  been  led  astray 
thereto  by  one  Tibb,  a  spirit  or  devil  in  the  form 
of  a  boy  wearing  a  parti-coloured  coat  of  brown- 
and-black,  whom  she  met  upon  the  highway. 
She  and  her  fellow-prisoners  were  charged  with 
murders,  conspiracies,  and  other  damnable  prac- 
tices, upon  evidence  fully  borne  out  by  their  own 
confessions.  Nevertheless,  of  the  twenty  only 
twelve  were  hanged,  one,  Mother  Demdyke  her- 
self, cheating  the  gallows  by  dying  in  prison, 
while  the  remaining  seven  were  acquitted — for  the 
time.  That  so  large  a  proportion  should  have 
escaped  speaks  ill  for  the  abilities  of  the  prosecu- 
tion, for  an  example  was  badly  needed.  "  This 
remote  country,"  says  Scot,  "  was  full  of  Popish 
recusants,  travelling  priests,  and  so  forth,  and 
some  of  their  spells  are  given  in  which  holy  names 
and  things  alluded  to  form  a  strange  contrast 
with  the  purpose  to  which  they  were  applied  to 
secure  a  good  brewing  of  ale,  or  the  like."  One 
such  charm,  quoted  at  the  trial,  was  used  by  Anne 
Whittle,  alias  Chattox,  one  of  the  twenty,  in  order 
to  remove  a  curse  previously  laid  upon  John 
Moore's  wife's  brewing,  and  ran  as  follows^:, — 

Three  Biters  hast  thou  bitten, 
The  Host,  ill  Eye,  ill  Tongue; 
221 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Three  Bitter  shall  be  thy  boote, 

Father,  Sonne,  and  Holy  Ghost, 

A  God's  name. 
Five  Paternosters,  five  Avies, 

And  a  creede. 
For  worship  of  five  woundes 

Of  our  Lord. 

Which  would  seem  to  show  that  whether  or  no 
Anne  Whittle  was  a  witch,  she  was  certainly  a 
Papist,  so  we  need  feel  little  surprise  that  she  was 
among  the  twelve  executed. 

The  second  great  persecution  in  Lancashire,  in 
1633,  rested  almost  entirely  on  the  evidence  of 
a  boy  of  eleven.  His  name  was  Edmund  Robin- 
son, and  he  lived  with  his  father,  a  very  poor 
man,  in  Pendle  Forest,  where  no  doubt  he  heard 
many  legends  of  the  redoubtable  Mother  Dem- 
dyke  and  her  colleagues.  Upon  All  Saints'  Day, 
when  gathering  "  bulloes  "  in  a  field,  he  there  saw 
two  greyhounds,  one  black,  the  other  brown,  each 
wearing  a  collar  shining  like  gold.  They  fawned 
upon  him,  whereafter,  "  seeing  no  one,  he  took 
them,  thinking  to  course  with  them.  And  pre- 
sently a  Hare  did  rise  very  near  before  him. 
Whereat  he  cried,  '  Loo,  Loo,  Loo  ';  but  the 
Doggs  would  not  run.  Whereupon  he,  being 
very  angry,  took  them,  and  with  the  strings  that 
were  about  their  collars,  tied  them  to  a  little  bush 
at  the  next  hedge,  and  with  a  switch  that  he  had 
in  his  hand  he  beat  them.  And  instead  of  the 
black  greyhound,  one  Dickenson's  wife  stood  up, 

222 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

a  Neighbour,  whom  this  Informer  knoweth. 
And  instead  of  the  brown  one  a  little  Boy,  whom 
this  Informer  knoweth  not."  Dickenson's  wife 
offered  him  a  shilling  as  the  price  of  his  silence, 
but  he  answered,  "  Nay,  thou  art  a  witch." 
Whereupon  she  put  her  hand  into  her  pocket  and 
pulled  out  something  like  a  Bridle,  "  that 
gingled,"  and  put  it  over  the  little  Boy's  head, 
upon  which  he  turned  into  a  white  horse.  Mrs. 
Dickenson  then  seized  upon  the  Informer,  set 
him  before  her  on  the  white  horse,  and  carried 
him  to  a  new  house  called  Hoarstones,  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  away.  Here  he  saw  about  sixty 
persons,  some  by  the  door,  others  riding  towards 
the  house  on  horses  of  different  colours.  In  the 
house  was  a  fire  with  meat  roasting  before  it.  A 
young  woman  offered  him  "  Flesh  and  Bread 
upon  a  Trencher  and  Drink  in  a  Glass,"  but  after 
the  first  taste  he  would  have  no  more  of  it.  On 
going  into  the  adjoining  Barn,  he  there  saw  six 
persons  kneeling  and  pulling  at  Ropes  fastened 
to  the  top  of  the  Barn.  Whereupon  "  there  came 
into  the  Informer's  sight  flesh  smoking,  butter  in 
lumps,  and  milk  as  it  were  syling  (streaming)  from 
the  said  Ropes.  All  of  which  fell  into  basins 
placed  under  the  said  Ropes.  And  when  these 
six  had  done,  there  came  other  six  which  did  like- 
wise, and  during  all  the  time  of  their  said  pulling 
they  made  such  ugly  faces  as  scared  the  In- 
former, so  that  he  was  glad  to  run  out  and  steal 

223 


The  Book  of  Witches 

homewards/'  They  pursued  him,  but  he  met 
two  horsemen,  whereupon  they  left  him.  The 
foremost  of  his  pursuers  was  one  Loind's  wife. 

The  troubles  of  the  Informer  were  not  yet  at 
an  end.  "  After  he  had  come  from  the  company 
aforesaid,  his  Father  bade  him  go  and  fetch  home 
two  kine  and  he  happed  upon  a  Boy,  who  fought 
him."  The  Informer  had  his  ears  and  face 
made  very  bloody  in  the  fight,  and  looking  down 
he  saw  the  Boy  had  a  cloven  foot.  With  com- 
mendable prudence  he  ran  away,  only  to  see  a 
light  like  to  a  lantern,  which  he  pursued,  thinking 
it  might  be  carried  by  a  neighbour.  But  he  only 
found  a  woman — Loind's  wife — standing  on  a 
bridge,  and  running  from  her  he  met  the  cloven- 
footed  Boy  again,  who  hit  him  and  made  him  cry. 

Such  was  the  dread  story  told  in  court,  and 
partly  corroborated  by  the  boy's  father.  The 
wives  of  Dickenson  and  Loind,  along  with  some 
eighteen  other  persons,  were  arrested  at  once, 
while  the  informer  and  his  father  made  a  comfort- 
able little  sum  of  money  by  going  the  round  of 
the  neighbouring  churches  and  there  detecting 
others.  The  trial  took  place  at  Lancaster  Assizes, 
when  seventeen  of  the  accused  were  found  guilty, 
but  the  judge,  not  being  satisfied  with  the  evi- 
dence, obtained  a  reprieve.  Four  of  the  accused 
were  sent  up  to  London,  and  committed  to  the 
Fleet  Prison,  where  "  great  sums  of  money  were 
gotten  by  shewing  them."    The  Bishop  of  Chester 

224 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

held  a  special  examination  of  the  case,  and  the 
informer,  being  separated  from  his  father,  soon 
confessed  that  his  estimable  parent  had  invented 
the  whole  story  as  a  means  towards  an  end.  So 
the  trial  ended  in  a  lamentable  fiasco,  from  the 
point  of  view  of  that  public  who  were  looking 
forward  to  the  public  executions  as  a  holiday. 

Although  the  activities  of  Matthew  Hopkins 
reached  their  culminating  point  in  the  trial  of  the 
Manningtree  Witches,  held  before  Sir  Matthew 
Hale  at  Ipswich  in  1645,  they  were  only  a  part 
of  his  bag  in  that  year,  as  we  may  gather  from  a 
statement  in  Beaumont's  "  Treatise  on  Spirits,'' 
that  "  thirty-six  were  arraigned  at  the  same  time 
before  Judge  Corners,  an.  1645,  ^.nd  fourteen  of 
them  hanged  and  a  hundred  more  detained  in 
several  prisons  in  Suffolk  and  Essex."  Nearly 
twenty  years  later,  in  1664,  we  find  the  Witch- 
finder-General  at  work  in  Great  Yarmouth,  where 
he  accused  sixteen  old  women,  all  of  whom  were 
convicted  and  executed;  and  in  the  same  year 
took  place  the  St.  Edmunsbury  trials  already 
referred  to.  Nevertheless  it  must  be  said  for 
Matthew  Hopkins,  gent.,  that  by  the  very  en- 
thusiasm he  imparted  into  his  business  he  did 
something  towards  checking  the  tide  of  persecu- 
tion even  at  the  full.  Although  the  general  public 
gave  little  sign  of  satiety,  those  in  authority  and 
the  more  educated  class  in  general  were  growing 
tired  of  so  much  useless  bloodshed.     Witch-trials 

225  Q 


The  Book  of   Witches 

continued  unabated,  but  towards  the  close  of  the 
century  the  judge's  directions  to  his  jury  were 
frequently  such  as  to  ensure  an  acquittal ;  while, 
even  when  found  guilty,  the  accused  were  often 
reprieved  through  the  judge's  exertions.  Among 
these  just  judges  the  name  of  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Holt  merits  a  high  place,  as  of  one  more  than 
usually  in  advance  of  his  age. 

In  1694,  before  the  same  Lord  Chief  Justice,  at 
Bury  Saint  Edmunds,  was  tried  Mother  Mun- 
nings,  of  Hartis,  in  Suffolk.  Many  things  were 
deposed  concerning  her  spoiling  of  wort  and 
harming  of  cattle,  and,  further,  that  several 
persons  upon  their  death-beds  had  attributed  their 
destruction  to  her  arts.  Thus  it  was  sworn  that 
Thomas  Pannel,  the  landlord,  not  knowing  how 
to  turn  her  out  of  his  house,  took  away  the  door 
and  left  her  without  one.  Some  time  after,  he 
happening  to  pass  by,  she  said  to  him,  "  Go  thy 
way ;  thy  nose  shall  lie  upward  in  the  churchyard 
before  Saturday  next."  On  the  Monday  follow- 
ing Pannel  sickened,  died  on  the  Tuesday,  and 
was  buried  within  the  week,  according  to  her 
word.  To  confirm  this,  another  witness  added 
that  a  doctor,  being  consulted  about  another 
afflicted  person,  and  Mother  Munnings  being 
mentioned,  said  that  she  was  a  dangerous  woman, 
for  she  could  touch  the  line  of  life.  In  the  indict- 
ment she  was  charged  with  having  an  imp  like 
a  polecat,  and  one  witness  swore  that  coming  from 

226 


The  Later  Persecutions  in  England 

the  alehouse  about  nine  o'clock  at  night,  he  looked 
through  her  window,  and  saw  her  take  two  imps 
out  of  a  basket,  a  black  and  a  white.  It  was 
further  deposed  that  one  Sarah  Wager,  after  a 
quarrel  with  the  accused,  was  struck  dumb  and 
lame,  and  was  in  that  condition  at  home  at  the 
time  of  the  trial.  Many  other  equally  dreadful 
accusations  were  brought,  and  things  might  have 
gone  hard  for  Mother  Munnings  had  not  the 
Lord  Chief  Justice  been  on  the  bench.  He, 
however,  directed  the  jury  to  bring  in  a  verdict 
of  "  Not  Guilty,"  which  they  obediently  did. 
"  Upon  particular  Enquiry,"  says  Hutchinson, 
"  of  several  in  or  near  the  Town,  I  find  most  are 
satisfied  it  was  a  very  right  Judgment.  She  lived 
about  Two  years  after  without  doing  any  known 
Harm  to  any,  and  died  declaring  her  Innocence. 
Her  landlord  was  a  consumptive  spent  Man,  and 
the  Words  not  exactly  as  they  swore  them,  and 
the  whole  thing  seventeen  Years  before  .  .  .  the 
White  Imp  is  believed  to  have  been  a  Lock  of 
Wool  taken  out  of  her  Basket  to  spin,  and  its 
Shadow,  it  is  supposed,  was  the  Black  one." 

In  the  same  year  Margaret  Elmore  was  tried 
at  the  Ipswich  Assizes  before  the  same  judge. 
"  She  was  committed,"  says  Hutchinson,  "  upon 
the  account  of  one  Mrs.  Rudge,  who  was  Three 
Years  in  a  languishing  condition,  as  was  thought 
by  the  Witchcraft  of  the  Prisoner  then  at  the 
Bar,    because     Mr.     Rudge,     Husband    of    the 

227  Q     2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

afflicted  Person,  had  refused  letting  her  a  House. 
Some  Witnesses  said  that  Mrs.  Rudge  was  better 
upon  the  confinement  of  the  woman,  and  worse 
again  when  her  chains  were  off.  Other  witnesses 
gave  account  that  her  grandmother  and  her  aunt 
had  formerly  been  hanged  for  Witches,  and  that 
her  Grandmother  had  said  she  had  8  or  9  Imps, 
and  that  she  had  given  two  or  three  apiece  to  her 
children."  It  was  further  shown  on  the  evidence 
of  a  midwife  who  had  searched  her  grandmother, 
that  the  prisoner  had  plainer  witch-marks  than 
she;  while  several  women  who  had  been  on  bad 
terms  with  her  took  oath  that  their  bodies  were 
infested  with  lice  and  other  vermin  supposed  to 
be  of  her  sending.  But  not  even  the  vermin 
could  influence  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  and  Mar- 
garet Elmore  was  found  "  Not  Guilty.'' 

Yet  another  case,  tried  before  Holt,  was  that 
of  EHzabeth  Horner  at  Exeter,  in  1696.  Three 
children  of  one  William  Borch  were  said  to  have 
been  bewitched  by  her.  One  had  died,  the  leg 
of  another  was  twisted,  all  had  vomited  pins,  been 
bitten,  pricked,  and  pinched.  Their  mother 
deposed  "  that  one  of  them  walked  up  a  smooth 
plaistered  Wall  till  her  Feet  were  nine  foot  high, 
her  Head  standing  off  from  it.  This,"  she  said, 
"  she  did  five  or  six  times,  and  laughed  and  said 
Bess  Horner  held  her  up."  Poor  EHzabeth  had 
a  wart  on  her  shoulder,  which  the  children  said 
was  a  witch-mark,  and  was  sucked  by  her  toad. 

228 


The  Later  Persecutions   in  England 

But  the  Lord  Chief  Justice  seems  to  have  been 
of  another  opinion,  for  he  directed  the  jury  to 
acquit  her.  Indeed,  of  all  the  many  cases  of 
witchcraft  brought  before  him,  not  one  prisoner 
was  convicted — a  state  of  things  which  would  cer- 
tainly have  resulted  in  a  question  being  asked 
in  Parliament  had  it  happened  in  our  time.  The 
last  woman  found  guilty  of  witchcraft  in  this 
country  was  Jane  Wenham,  the  Witch  of  Wal- 
kerne,  in  Hertfordshire,  who  was  tried  in  1712. 
The  witch-finder  was  called  into  requisition,  and 
she  was  submitted  to  the  usual  inane  and  degrad- 
ing tests.  "  They  either  did  themselves  or  suf- 
fered others  that  were  about  them  to  scratch  and 
tear  her  face  and  run  Pins  into  her  Flesh.  They 
.  .  .  turned  the  Lord's  Prayer  into  a  Charm  " — 
(the  Vicar  of  Ardely  was  responsible  for  this  part 
of  the  performance,  by  the  way).  "  They  turned 
to  Spectre  Evidence,  they  drave  her  to  such  Dis- 
traction that  by  leading  Questions  they  drew  from 
her  what  they  called  a  Confession.  They  had 
her  to  Jail.  The  witnesses  swore  to  vomiting 
Pins.  The  Jury  found  her  Guilty,  the  Judge  con- 
demned her,  and  those  clergymen  wrote  a  Narra- 
tive of  the  Tryal,  which  was  received  and  read 
with  such  Pleasure  that  in  a  Month's  Time  it  had 
a  Fourth  Edition."  But  Jane  Wenham  was  for- 
tunate in  her  judge.  Being  a  man  of  learning 
and  experience,  "  he  Valued  not  those  Tricks  and 
Tryals,  and  though  he  was  forced  to  condemn 

229 


The  Book  of  Witches 

her  because  a  Silly  Jury  would  find  her  guilty, 
he  saved  her  Life.  And  that  she  might  not  after- 
wards be  torn  to  pieces  in  an  ignorant  Town,  a 
sensible  Gentleman,  who  will  for  ever  be  in 
Honour  for  what  he  did,  Colonel  Plummer  of 
Gilston,  in  the  same  County,  took  her  into  his 
protection  and  placed  her  in  a  little  house  near 
his  own,  where  she  now  lives  soberly  and  inoffen- 
sively, and  keeps  her  church,  and  the  whole 
county  is  now  fully  convinced  that  she  was  inno- 
cent, and  that  the  Maid  that  was  thought  to  be 
bewitched  was  an  Idle  Hussy  .  .  .  and  was  well 
as  soon  as  her  sweetheart  came  and  married  her." 

Thenceforward  the  law  of  England  had  no 
more  terrors  for  the  witch,  though  she  was  not 
yet  quite  out  of  danger.  The  Statute  of  James 
I.  was  not  repealed  until  1736,  and  long  after  that 
the  mob  was  accustomed  to  take  the  law  into  its 
own  hands.  Thus,  in  1751,  a  man  and  his  wife 
named  Osborn  were  ducked  at  Thring,  having 
been  dragged  by  the  mob  from  the  workhouse 
where  they  had  been  placed  by  the  parish  officers 
for  safety.  The  woman  lost  her  life  in  the 
process.  She  was,  however,  not  unavenged,  for 
a  verdict  of  "  Wilful  Murder  "  was  returned 
against  the  ringleader  of  the  mob,  a  chimney- 
sweeper named  Colley,  and  he  was  hanged,  very 
much  to  his  own  and  other  people's  indignation. 
There  was  indeed  something  to  be  said  for  the 
injured  Colley  when  a  man  like  Wesley,  pinning 

230 


The  Later  Persecutions  in    England 

his  faith  to  the  Bible,  could  find  no  means  of 
evading  the  direct  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not 
suffer  a  witch  to  live."  The  last  case  in  which 
the  blood  of  a  witch  was  actually  shed  in  this 
country,  so  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  trace,  was 
in  1875,  when  a  certain  Ann  Turner,  a  reputed 
witch,  was  murdered  by  a  man,  who  was,  however, 
declared  insane. 


231 


CHAPTER  XII 

PERSECUTIONS    IN    SCOTLAND 

The  influence  of  longitude  upon  national  ten- 
dencies in  superstition  is  far  too  wide  a  subject  to 
be  here  discussed  in  any  detail,  but  speaking 
generally,  it  may  be  said  that  the  superstitions  of 
a  people — as  their  religion — are  largely  a  matter 
of  climate — milder  and  more  genial  in  temperate 
districts,  carried  to  fiercer  and  more  terrible 
lengths  amid  extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  The 
man  whose  gods  are  based  upon  his  conceptions 
of  the  thunderstorm,  the  grim  northern  winter  or 
the  tropical  sun,  evokes  sterner  and  more  dreadful 
images  than  he  whose  lot  is  cast  amid  mild  skies 
and  gentle  breezes.  How  wide  is  the  difference 
between  the  grim  gods  who  ruled  the  inhospitable 
heavens  of  Scandinavian  and  Teuton  from  the 
tolerant  Bohemians  who  tenanted  the  classical 
Olympus.  The  gentle  dryads  and  light-hearted 
fauns  of  Italy  would  have  perished  in  the  first 
snows  of  a  Baltic  winter,  just  as  the  hungry  ravens 
of  Woden  would  have  been  metamorphosed  into 
Venus'  doves  in  one  Italian  generation. 

Nowhere    is    the    influence    of    climate    upon 
232 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

national  temperament  more  clearly  typified  than 
in  the  island  of  Great  Britain.  The  Viking, 
settling  amid  the  lush  meadows  and  pleasant 
woodlands  of  England,  laid  aside  his  heathen 
sacrifices  for  the  more  climatically  appro- 
priate religion  of  Christ  with  scarcely  a  regret. 
Thor  and  Woden  long  held  their  own  in  the  bare 
northern  fastnesses,  not  to  be  finally  driven  out 
until  they  had  tinged  the  Christianity  which  took 
their  place  with  something  of  their  own  hopeless- 
ness and  gloom.  Just  as  the  gods  of  Valhalla 
ever  looked  forward  to  the  day  of  their  destruc- 
tion, so  Hell  rather  than  Heaven  has  always 
held  the  leading  place  in  the  Scottish  imagina- 
tion. So  it  came  about  that  the  superstitions 
of  the  Scot  were  gloomier  than  were  those 
of  his  neighbour  over  the  Border.  The  convic- 
tion of  his  own  sinfulness  was  always  with  him; 
how  much  deeper  and  more  certain  that  of  his 
neighbours.  And  because  he  had  a  more  im- 
minent sense  of  sin,  his  belief  in  witches  and  their 
malignancy  was  more  intimate  and  more  resent- 
ful. The  Englishman,  again,  feared  the  wdtch 
chiefly  on  his  own  personal  account;  the  Scotsman 
took  up  the  cudgels  on  behalf  of  his  Creator  as 
well.  The  Devil  seemed  so  much  more  powerful 
to  the  dwellers  of  a  bleak  Highland  glen  than  to 
the  stout  yeoman  walking  amid  his  opulent  Eng- 
Hsh  pastures.  In  Scotland  he  was  on  terms 
almost  of  equality  with  God;  it  is  scarcely  too 

233 


The  Book  of  Witches 

much  to  say  that  to  the  majority  he  was  even  more 
powerful,  and  his  earthly  agents  all  the  more  to 
be  feared  and  hated. 

As  in  Rome  and  Greece,  the  witch  was  firmly 
settled  in  Scotland  centuries  before  the  coming 
of  Christianity.  But  she  was  of  another  breed, 
as  befitted  her  sterner  ancestry.  She  and  her 
demoniacal  coadjutors  held  all  the  land  under  a 
grip  of  blood  and  iron.  There  was  nothing 
amiable,  nothing  whimsical,  nothing  human  about 
the  spirits,  of  one  kind  or  another,  that  lorded  it 
among  the  mists  and  heather.  Even  the  fairies 
had  more  in  common  with  Logi  than  with  Oberon, 
Elfame,  their  dwelling-place,  resembled  rather 
Hell  than  Fairyland.  In  place  of  a  Lob-lie-by- 
the-Fire,  who  found  his  highest  pleasure  in  the 
helping  of  good  housewives  without  fee,  of  a 
Queen  Mab,  who  tormented  no  one  but  the  idle 
or  the  wicked,  you  had  a  Kelpie,  lurking  in  lonely 
places  intent  upon  your  murder,  or  a  Banshee,  pro- 
phesying your  coming  death  or  ruin.  When  at 
last  Christianity  came,  it  had  a  long,  stern  struggle 
against  such  antagonists — nor,  indeed,  could  it 
ever  altogether  overcome  them,  even  though  it 
forced  them  to  adopt  new  names  and  new  dis- 
guises. The  missionary  saints  found  their  task 
of  conversion  increased  tenfold  by  the  strenuous 
opposition  of  the  witches  and  other  evil  spirits, 
St.  Patrick,  in  particular,  so  enraged  them  and 
their  master  the   Devil,  by  his  pertinacity,  that 

234 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

he  was  forced,  for  a  time,  to  flee  before  their 
assaults  back  to  Ireland.  One  of  their  most 
famous  exploits  was  the  bombardment  with  a 
mountain-top  of  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  em- 
barked. It  is  true  that  their  aim,  like  that  of 
Polyphemus,  a  member  of  their  own  family,  was 
bad,  and  the  mountain-top  fell  into  the  sea  instead 
of  drowning  the  saint.  But  by  this  very  mis- 
chance they  provided  permanent  proof  of  their 
exploit;  for  the  mountain-top  remains  to  this  day 
to  testify  unto  it,  being  that  upon  which  Dumbar- 
ton Castle  was  subsequently  built. 

Among  the  many  legends  dealing  with  these 
same  early  Scots  witches,  I  am  tempted  to  quote 
from  one,  taken  down  verbatim  from  the  lips  of 
an  old  Highland  woman,  by  the  late  Dr.  Norman 
Macleod  and  related  by  him  in  his  "  Reminis- 
cences of  a  Highland  Parish."  In  its  modern 
form  it  was  woven  around  the  imaginary  misad- 
ventures of  a  Spanish  Princess — and  the  real 
shipwreck  of  the  Florida,  one  of  the  vessels 
forming  the  Spanish  Armada,  sunk  near  Tober- 
mory, in  Mull,  in  1588.  Actually,  however,  the 
magical  passages  have  some  much  more  ancient 
history,  probably,  as  we  may  judge  from  incidental 
reference  to  Druidism,  from  pre-Christian  days. 
The  first  part  of  the  legend  relates  how  the 
Spanish  Princess  came  to  Mull,  there  had  a  love 
affair  with  Maclean  of  Duart,  and  was  murdered 
by  his  jealous  wife.     The  King  of  Spain,  hear 


The  Book  of  Witches 

ing  of  his  daughter's  fate,  fitted  out  a  war-vessel 
and  despatched  it  to  Tobermory  to  take  sum- 
mary vengeance.  Maclean  and  his  people,  feeling 
unequal  to  resisting  it  by  ordinary  means,  sought 
aid  from  magic  (Druidism,  in  fact)  and  by  power- 
ful spells  and  charms  gathered  all  the  witches 
of  Mull,  the  Doideagan  Muileack,  together. 
He  explained  the  position  and  begged  them 
to  raise  a  tempest  and  sink  the  Spanish  vessel, 
pointing  out  at  the  same  time  that  her  commander, 
one  Captain  Forrest,  was  himself  a  magician. 
The  chief  witch  asked  if  the  Spaniard,  when 
declaring  his  unfriendly  intentions,  had  said, 
"  With  God's  help  !  ''  On  learning  that  he  had 
omitted  that  precaution  she  professed  herself 
ready  to  undertake  the  task.  This  passage  is  so 
unsuggestive  of  the  pagan  witch's  usual  attitude 
that  I  take  it  to  be  a  pious  interpretation  of  later 
date. 

In  due  time  the  witches  began  their  work  of 
ubag,  ohag  and  gisreag  (charm,  incantation  and 
chanting),  but  with  little  initial  effect.  Stronger 
measures  becoming  necessary  the  chief  witch  tied 
a  straw  rope  to  a  quern-stone,  passed  it  over  a 
rafter,  and  raised  the  stone  as  high  as  she  was 
able.  As  it  rose  the  wind  rose  with  it,  but  she 
could  not  get  it  very  high  owing  to  the  counter- 
spells  of  the  Spanish  captain  with  the  English 
name.  Accordingly  she  called  her  sister-witches 
to  help  her — witches  with  very  much  finer  names, 

236 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

by  the  way,  than  their  English  colleagues  could 
boast  of.  They  were  nine  in  all,  and  the  names 
of  five  were  Luideag  (which  is  to  say  "  Raggie  "), 
Agus  Doideag  (or  "  Frizzle  Hair  "),  Agus  Cor- 
rag  Nighin  Jain  Bhain  ("  The  Finger  of  White 
John's  Daughter  "),  Cas  a'mhogain  Riabhaich  a 
Gleancomham  ("  Hogganfoot  from  Glencoe  ") 
and  Agus  Gormshuil  mhor  bharr  na  Maighe 
("  Great  Blue-Eye  from  Moy  ").  All  pulled  to- 
gether at  the  rope,  but  could  not  raise  the  quern- 
stone.  Some  of  them  then  flew  through  the  air 
and  climbed  about  the  ship's  rigging  in  the  shape 
of  cats,  spitting  and  swearing.  But  Captain  For- 
rest only  laughed  at  them.  So  he  did  when 
their  number  increased  to  fifteen.  At  last  the 
Doideag  got  a  very  strong  man,  Domknull  Dubh 
Laidir,  to  hold  the  rope  and  prevent  the  stone 
from  slipping  down  again,  while  she  flew  off  to 
Lochaber  to  beg  the  assistance  of  Great  Garmal 
of  Moy,  the  doyenne  of  Scotch  witchcraft,  whose 
powers  were  more  developed  than  those  of  all  the 
others  put  together.  Garmal  accepted  the  flat- 
tering invitation,  and  set  out  for  the  scene  of 
action.  No  sooner  was  she  in  the  air  than  a  tem- 
pest began,  and  by  the  time  she  reached  Tober- 
mory Captain  Forrest  realised  that  he  had  better 
retire.  But  before  his  cable  could  be  cut  Great 
Garmal  had  reached  the  ship,  had  climbed  to 
the  top  of  the  mast  in  the  shape  of  the  largest 
black  cat  that  ever  was  seen,  and  uttered  one 

237 


The  Book  of  Witches 

spell,  whereupon  the  Spanish  man-o'-war  with  all 
her  crew  sank  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Against  witches  of  such  prowess  he  must  be  a 
powerful  man — saint  or  king — who  would  gainsay 
them.  Many — if  not  most — of  the  earlier  Scot- 
tish kings  had  passages  with  witchcraft,  mostly 
to  their  own  detriment.  Leaving  aside  Macbeth, 
quite  as  credible  an  historic  character  as  the  rest, 
we  have  King  Duff,  who,  towards  the  end  of  the 
tenth  century,  narrowly  escaped  a  lingering  death 
at  the  hands  of  the  witches — they  employing  the 
old-fashioned,  even  in  those  days,  but  eminently 
dependable  "  waxen  image."  By  good  luck  only 
he  was  enabled  to  discover  the  witches  and,  having 
burned  them  and  broken  up  the  magic  before  it 
was  quite  melted  before  their  fire,  to  recover  his 
usual  health  and  spirits. 

Not  only  for  its  long  line  of  eminent  witches 
does  Scotland  claim  an  important  place  in  the 
annals  of  the  arts  magical.  In  Michael  Scot  she 
had  one  of  the  most  famous  wizards  known  to  his- 
tory, far  superior  in  prowess  to  the  great  bulk  of  his 
successors,  if  tradition  may  be  credited,  and  every 
whit  as  eminent,  while  a  great  deal  more  probable, 
than  the  British  Merlin  of  Arthurian  legend. 
Thomas  the  Rhymer,  he  of  Escildonne,  chosen 
lover  of  the  Fairy  Queen,  was  another  wizard  of 
repute. 

It  is  an  indirect  testimony  to  the  high,  if  evil, 
place  held  by  magic  in  Scotland  that  so  many  of 

238 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

its  followers  and  practitioners  were  men  and 
women  of  the  first  ranks  of  life.  We  have  the 
dread  figure  of  William,  Lord  Soulis,  boiled  to 
death  as  the  only  fit  punishment  for  the  crimes 
committed  in  his  feudal  stronghold,  such  as  put 
him  on  an  evil  parity  with  the  Marshal  de  Retz, 
the  French  Bluebeard.  Or  again,  in  1479,  by 
which  time  we  are  on  firm  ground,  the  Earl  of 
Mar,  with  a  whole  band  of  male  and  female 
abettors  of  humbler  rank,  was  burned  in  Edin- 
burgh for  attempts  on  the  King's  life  by  aid  of 
waxen  images  and  spells.  Indeed,  the  whole 
family  of  this  peccant  nobleman  proved,  on  in- 
vestigation, to  be  tarred  with  the  same  magical 
brush.  Lady  Glammis  again,  burned  in  1536  as 
a  witch,  was  one  of  the  proud  Douglasses,  grand- 
daughter of  Archibald  Bell-the-Cat,  widow  of 
"  Clean  the  Causeway  "  Lord  Glammis,  whom, 
inter  alia,  she  was  accused  of  murdering — young, 
beautiful,  and  wealthy.  It  is  true  that  her  death 
was  very  necessary  to  one  of  the  contemporary 
political  parties,  though  that  may  have  been  only 
a  coincidence.  Another  aristocratic  witch  was 
Lady  Katherine  Fouliss,  who,  with  her  step-son, 
was  tried  in  1590  for  "  witchcraft,  incantation, 
sorcery,  and  poisoning.''  She,  although  she  seems 
to  have  gone  about  her  questionable  business  with 
an  open-hearted  publicity  that  arouses  our  admira- 
tion, was  acquitted  through  family  influence,  and 
her  stepson  with  her,  though  several    of    their 

-39 


The  Book  of   Wicches 

humbler  accomplices  paid  the  penalty  in  the  usual 
way. 

In  the  following  year  occurred  a  witch-trial  of 
interest  in  itself,  and  the  cause  of  the  great  out- 
burst of  persecution  which  for  the  next  century 
makes  the  annals  of  Scottish  justice  run  red  with 
innocent  blood — that  of  Dr.  Feane — or  Fian,  as 
it  is  variously  spelt.  The  story  of  the  ''  Secretar 
and  Register  to  the  Devil  "  has  been  often  told, 
but  it  will  bear  recapitulation.  Fian  was  a  school- 
master at  Saltpans,  Lothian;  he  was  further, 
according  to  his  accusers,  a  wizard.  More 
exactly,  perhaps,  he  should  be  described  as  a 
male-witch,  seeing  that  he  had  no  control  over 
Satan,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  had  sworn  allegi- 
ance to  him,  received  witch-marks — under  his 
tongue — and  otherwise  conformed  to  the  etiquette 
of  the  lower  grade  in  the  profession.  This  seems, 
indeed,  to  have  been  customary  in  Scotland,  where 
the  distinction  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  lay 
down  between  the  sorcerer  and  the  witch  is  often 
hard  to  trace.  His  magic,  however,  gains  its  chief 
interest  from  its  object — no  less  a  person  than 
James  I.  and  VI.  This  learned  and  Protestant 
monarch,  being  on  his  way  to  visit  his  Danish 
bride  in  her  native  land,  the  Devil  and  his  Secre- 
tary laid  a  plot  to  drown  him.  They  put  to  sea, 
after  the  vessel,  along  with  a  whole  regiment  of 
witches,  and  there  cast  an  enchanted  cat  into  the 
sea,  raising  a  fierce  storm,  which  could  not,  how- 

240 


Persecutions  in   Scotland 

ever,  prevent  the  Divinely-protected  James  from 
reaching  Denmark  in  safety.  On  his  return 
journey  the  plotters  tried  another  plan — to  raise 
a  fog  whereby  the  Royal  ship  might  be  driven 
ashore  on  the  English  coast.  Towards  this  end 
Satan  cast  a  football,  or  its^  misty  semblance, 
into  the  sea,  and  succeeded  iri"^  raising  what  may 
be  accurately  described  as  the  Devil's  own  fog. 
But  angels  guided  the  ship  upon  its  proper 
course,  and  again  the  King  escaped  the  assaults 
of  his  enemies.  For  these  and  other  crimes  Dr. 
Fian,  with  a  number  of  women-witches,  was  tried, 
tortured,  forced  to  confess,  and  burned  on  Castle 
Hill — though  he  withdrew  his  confession  before 
the  end  and  died  like  a  gentleman  and  a  scholar. 
It  is  an  interesting  point  about  the  trial  that  in  it 
occurs  the  first  Scottish  mention  of  the  Devil's 
mark. 

The  effects  of  this  outrage  upon  the  Lord's 
Anointed  were  not  to  end  with  the  death  of  its 
presumed  concocters.  If  the  tribe  of  witches  had 
grown  so  bold,  it  was  high  time  they  were  extir- 
pated, and  gallantly  did  the  King  and  his  advisers 
set  about  it.  It  was  in  1563  that  the  persecution 
of  the  witch  was  regularised  as  a  distinct  branch 
of  crime  by  an  enactment  of  the  Estates,  "  that 
nae  person  take  upon  hand  to  use  any  manner  of 
witchcrafts,  sorcery,  or  necromancy,  nor  give 
themselves  furth  to  have  ony  sic  craft  or  know- 
ledge thereof  therethrough  abusing  the  people," 

241  R 


The  Book  of  Witches 

and  that  "  nae  person  seek  ony  help,  response,  or 
consultation,  at  any  sic  users  or  abusers  of  witch- 
crafts .  .  .  under  pain  of  death." 

Thenceforward,  until  the  last  witch-burning  in 
1727,  the  fires  were  seldom  allowed  to  go  out,  and 
to  be  an  old  and  ugly  woman  was  perhaps  the 
most  "  dangerous  trade  "  in  Scottish  industry. 
There  was,  indeed,  one  incidental  to  a  witch- 
burning  which  may — it  is  at  least  to  be  hoped — 
have  sometimes  moved  the  economical  Scotsman 
in  the  direction  of  toleration — the  expense. 
Here,  for  instance,  are  the  items  expended  in  the 
execution  of  one  batch  of  witches  in  Fife  in 
1633  :— 


For  ten  loads  of  coal  to  burn  them 
For  a  tar-barrel  ...  ...  ... 

For  towes 

For  harden  to  be  jumps  to  them 

For  making  of  them 


Or  a  grand  total  of  £4  lis.  2d.,  no  small  sum, 
seen  with  thrifty  eyes,  especially  if  we  consider  the 
greater  value  of  money  in  those  days. 

It  is,  perhaps,  only  characteristic  of  the  national 
attitude  towards  the  whole  subject  that  the 
"  White,"  or  amiable,  witch  was  held  in  as  great 
detestation  as  her  "  Black,"  or  malignant,  sister. 
Torture  and  penalty  were  the  same  for  either. 
Thus  we  find  that,  in  1597,  four  women  were  con- 

242 


£  s. 

d. 

3     6 

8 

14 

0 

6 

0 

3 

10 

8 

Persecutions  in   Scotland 

victed  at  Edinburgh  for  curing,  or  endeavouring  to 
cure,  certain  of  their  neighbours'  ills  by  witchcraft, 
and  were  in  due  course  strangled  and  burned.  It 
is  true  that  they  did  not  suffer  the  greater  penalty 
of  being  burned  alive,  which  was  reserved  for 
witches  of  unusual  malevolence.  The  dislike  and 
dread  of  a  "  White  ''  witch  was  not,  be  it  noted, 
due  to  ingratitude  alone,  but  rather  because  it 
entailed  the  mutilation  of  the  patient  at  the 
Resurrection.  While  the  rest  of  his  body  would 
owe  its  preservation  in  this  world  to  God  Him- 
self, any  limb  or  organ  healed  by  the  Devil — 
acting  through  the  "  White  "  witch — would  belong 
to  him,  and  thus  be  unable  to  rise  at  the  Day  of 
Judgment  with  the  rest.  In  endeavouring  to 
understand  the  mental  attitude  which  gave  rise 
to  the  great  persecutions  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, one  cannot  afford  to  overlook  such  points 
of  belief  as  this.  Fear  and  the  instinct  of  self- 
preservation,  not  cruelty,  were  the  driving-power 
in  the  witch-murderer.  We,  who  think  no  shame 
of  shooting  partridges  for  pastime,  have  little 
cause  to  contemn  the  seventeenth-century  Chris- 
tian who  killed  witches  lest  they  should  destroy 
him  body  and  soul. 

Such  is  the  similarity  of  the  various  Scottish 
witch-trials  that  too-detailed  recapitulation  would 
be  tedious  and  unprofitable.  Some,  however,  stand 
out  from  the  rest  by  reason  of  their  grotesque 
horror    and    exaggeration.       Such    is    the    trial 

243  R     2 


The   Book  of   Witches 

of  Isobel  Grierson,  "  spous  to  Johnne  Bull,  wark- 
man  in  the  Pannis  "  (Preston  Pans),  tried  at  Edin- 
burgh in  March,  1607.  Grierson,  by  the  way, 
was  a  name  very  prominent  in  witch-circles  at  the 
time.  One  Robert  Grierson  had  taken  a  leading 
part  as  an  accomplice  of  Dr.  Fian,  above  referred 
to,  his  being  the  hand  which  cast  the  enchanted 
cat  into  the  sea  in  the  endeavour  to  drown  King 
James.  He  was  also,  as  shown  in  the  confes- 
sion of  another  defendant  in  the  same  trial,  the 
cause  of  much  disturbance  at  a  Sabbath  held  in 
North  Berwick  Churchyard.  Satan,  by  an  unfor- 
tunate slip,  addressed  him  by  his  real  name. 
As  etiquette  strictly  demanded  that  Christian 
names  should  be  ignored,  and  nick-names — in  this 
instance  "  Rab  the  Rower  " — used  instead,  the 
mistake  appeared  an  intentional  insult  on  Satan's 
part,  and  was  so  taken  by  the  assembled  witches, 
who  expressed  their  displeasure  with  uncompro- 
mising vigour,  even  to  the  extent  of  running 
"  hirdy  girdy  ''  about  the  churchyard.  But  to 
return  to  John  Bull's  wife.  She  was  accused, 
inter  alia,  of  having  conceived  a  cruel  hatred  and 
malice  against  one  Adam  Clark,  and  with  having 
for  the  space  of  a  year  used  all  devilish  and  un- 
holy means  to  be  revenged  upon  him.  On  a 
November  night  in  1606,  between  eleven  and  mid- 
night, Adam  and  his  wife  being  in  bed,  Isobel 
entered  the  house  in  the  form  of  a  black  cat, 
accompanied  by  a  number  of  other  cats,  and  made 

244 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

a  great  and  fearful  noise,  whereat  Adam,  his  wife, 
and  maid-servant  were  so  frightened  as  almost 
to  go  mad.  Immediately  afterwards  the  Devil 
appeared,  in  the  likeness  of  a  black  man,  seized 
the  servant's  nightcap  and  cast  it  on  the  fire,  and 
then  dragged  her  up  and  down  the  house.  Who 
thereby  contracted  a  great  sickness,  so  that  she 
lay  bed-fast,  in  danger  of  her  life,  for  the  space 
of  six  weeks.  Isobel  was  further  accused  of 
having  compassed  the  death  of  William  Burnet 
and  of  laying  on  him  a  fearful  and  uncouth  sick- 
ness, by  casting  in  at  his  door  a  gobbet  of  raw, 
enchanted  flesh.  Whereafter  the  Devil  nightly 
appeared  in  poor  William's  house  in  the  guise  of 
a  naked  infant  child  for  the  space  of  half  a  year. 
Occasionally  he  varied  the  performance  by  ap- 
pearing in  the  shape  of  Isobel  herself,  but  being 
called  by  her  name  would  immediately  vanish 
away.  As  a  result  of  all  which,  Adam  languished 
in  sickness  for  the  space  of  three  years,  unable  to 
obtain  a  cure,  and  at  last,  in  great  "  douleur  and 
payne,"  departed  this  life.  Another  of  her  victims 
was  Robert  Peddan,  who  remained  sick  for  the 
space  of  one  year  and  six  months,  and  then  sud- 
denly remembering  that  he  owed  Isobel  nine  shil- 
ling and  fourpence,  and  that  before  the  time  of 
his  sickness,  as  he  had  refused  to  pay  it,  she  had 
delivered  to  him  certain  writings  that  she  kept  in 
MS.,  and  thereafter,  with  divers  blasphemous 
speeches,  told  him  he  should  repent  it.     Remem- 

245 


The  Book  of  Witches 

bering  this,  he  sought  out  Isobel  and  satisfied  her 
the  said  sum,  at  the  same  time  asking  his  health 
of  her  for  God's  sake,  saying,  "  If  ye  have  done 
me  any  wrong  or  hurt,  refrain  the  same  and 
restore  to  me  my  health/'  And  within  twenty-four 
hours  he  was  as  well  as  ever  before.  Yet  again, 
Margaret,  the  wife  of  Robert  Peddan,  lying  in 
bed,  Isobel,  or  a  spirit  in  her  shape,  entered  his 
house,  seized  Margaret  by  the  shoulder  and  flung 
her  upon  the  floor,  so  that  she  swooned  with 
fright,  and  was  immediately  seized  with  a  fearful 
and  uncouth  sickness.  Isobel,  hearing  that 
rumours  of  her  ill-doing  were  abroad,  caused 
Mrs.  Peddan  to  drink  with  her,  whereupon  her 
sickness  left  her  for  eight  or  ten  days.  But  as 
Mrs.  Peddan,  learning  nothing  from  experience, 
declared  hie  et  ubique  that  Isobel  was  a  foul  witch, 
she  straightway  laid  another  charm  upon  her,  so 
that  the  sickness  returned.  Isobel,  being  found 
guilty  of  all  these  and  other  crimes,  was  ordered 
by  her  judges  to  be  "  taken  to  the  Castle  Hill 
of  Edinburgh,  and  there  to  be  strangled  at  the 
stake  until  she  be  dead  and  her  body  to  be  burnt 
in  ashes,  as  convict  of  the  said  crimes;  and  all 
her  movable  goods  to  be  escheat  and  inbrought 
to  our  sovereign  lord's  use,  as  convict  of  the  said 
crimes."     Which  was  done  accordingly. 

In  1622  Margaret  Wallace  was  executed  on  the 
charge  of  inflicting  and  causing  diseases.  The 
chief  count  against  her  was  of  having  consulted 

246 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

with  Christiane  Graham — burned  as  a  witch  some 
time  before  Margaret's  trial — how  to  cure  Mar- 
garet Muir,  "  a  bairne/'  of  a  disorder,  "  to  which 
end  they  went  about  twelve  at  night  to  a  yard, 
and  there  used  their  devilish  charms,  whereby 
the  disease  was  removed  from  the  bairne." 

The  next  twenty  years  are  filled  with  a  mono- 
tonous record  of  witch-trials,  similar  in  essentials 
to  those  already  quoted.  Perhaps  the  most  out- 
standing is  that  of  Catharine  Oswald,  who  kept 
many  rendezvous  with  Satan,  and  cursed  the  yard 
of  John  Clerk  so  effectually  that  for  four  years 
neither  "  kaill,  hemp,  nor  other  graine  would  grow 
therein."  Alice  Nisbet,  also  famous  in  her  day, 
was  likewise  convicted  of  having  "  took  paines  off 
a  woman  in  travell,  by  some  charms  and  horrible 
words;  among  which  thir  ware  some,  '  the  bones 
to  the  fire  and  the  soull  to  the  divill.'  " 

In  1633  twenty  witches  were  executed.  Sir 
George  Home,  of  Manderston,  being  the  most 
zealous  persecutor,  chiefly,  it  was  said,  to  spite 
his  wife,  with  whom  he  was  not  on  good  terms, 
and  who  had  a  taste  for  Black  Magic.  Ten 
years  later  arose  another  fierce  persecution,  so  that 
in  Fifeshire  alone  thirty  women  were  executed — 
the  local  ministry  taking  the  lead  in  the  prosecu- 
tion. Two  of  the  accused  were  domestic  servants 
in  service  at  Edinburgh,  and  with  that  love  of 
finery  which  even  now  attends  their  kind.  By 
their  own  confession  they  had  been  introduced  to 

247 


The  Book  of   Witches 

the  Devil  bv  Janet  Cranston,  a  notorious  wHtch, 
and  had  by  him  been  promised  that,  if  they  gave 
themselves  bodies  and  souls  to  his  allegiance, 
"  thev  should  be  as  trimlie  clad  as  the  best  ser- 
vants in  Edinburgh.''  Janet  Barker,  one  of  the 
twain,  admitted  having  the  Devil's  mark  between 
her  shoulders,  and  when  a  pin  was  thrust  therein 
it  remained  there  for  an  hour  before  she  noticed 
it.  Needless  to  say,  both  were  "  wirriet  " 
(strangled)  at  the  stake  and  burned.  Agnes 
Fvnnie  was  convicted  on  no  fewer  than  twenty 
counts  of  different  offences,  chiefly  of  harming 
the  health  of  personal  enemies.  Her  defence  was 
more  vigorous  than  was  customar}-,  but  although 
she  pleaded  that  of  all  the  witches  already  burned 
not  one  had  mentioned  her  name,  she  was  found 
guilty  and  executed. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  Satan  did  not 
make  occasional  efforts  to  befriend  his  own.  Thus 
we  may  learn  from  Sinclair's  "  Invisible  World 
Discovered  "  that  he  directly  interfered,  en- 
deavouring to  save  the  wife  of  one  Goodail,  "  a 
most  beautiful  and  comely  person,''  for  whom  he 
had  a  particular  regard,  much  to  the  jealousy  of 
less  well-favoured  witches.  He  even  visited  her 
prison  and  endeavoured  to  carr}'  her  off  through 
the  air,  so  that  *''  she  made  several  loups  upwards, 
increasino^  oraduallv  till  her  feet  were  as  his^h 
as  his  breast."  But  James  Fleming,  the  gaoler, 
was  a  man  of  might.     He  caught  hold  of  her  feet, 

248 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

so  that  it  was  a  case  of  "  Pull  Devil,  pull 
Gaoler,"  and  the  better  man — which  is  to  say 
Mr.  Fleming — won,  and  the  prisoner  was  saved 
for  subsequent  execution.  On  another  occasion 
Satan  actually  released  a  witch  from  the  church- 
steeple  of  Culross,  where  she  was  confined.  Un- 
fortunately for  her,  before  they  had  gone  far  upon 
their  aerial  flight,  she  happened,  in  the  course  of 
conversation,  to  mention  the  name  of  the  Deity — 
whereupon  he  dropped  her. 

Political  ups  and  downs,  whomever  else  they 
might  affect,  made  no  difference  in  the_hard  lot 
of  the  witch— savje,mdeed,^that  she  was  regarded 
as  belonging  to  the  opposite,  party  by  that  ^Th' 
power.  That  did  not,  however,  gain  for  her  the 
sympathy  of  the  defeated.  Thus  the  death  of 
Charles  I.,  according  to  many,  could  only  have 
been  compassed  by  the  Powers  of  Darkness  them- 
selves. Even  the  brute  creation  seemed  to  have 
realised  this,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  reputed 
fact  that  some  of  the  lions  in  the  Tower  of  London 
died  from  the  smell  of  a  handkerchief  dipped  in 
the  martyred  monarch's  blood.  "  Old  Noll  " 
was  declared,  by  Royalists  anxious  to  explain 
away  their  defeats,  to  be  Satan's  direct  agent, 
if  not  the  Devil  incarnate,  the  Commonwealth 
representing  his  Kingdom  upon  Earth.  Thus 
although  the  Republicans  had  done  their  utmost 
in  the  way  of  witch-harrying,  their  efforts  were 
but  feeble  compared  to  those  of  the   Royalists 

249 


The  Book  of  Witches 

upon  the  glorious  Restoration.  Obviously  a  witch 
must  be  a  friend  to  crop-eared  Roundheads 
— and  fearfully  did  she  pay  the  penalty.  Some- 
where about  1 20  were  executed  in  the  year  1661, 
immediately  following  the  King's  entering  upon 
his  own  again — the  majority  owing  their  arrest  to 
the  exertions  of  John  Kincaid  and  John  Dick, 
witch-finders  as  eminent,  though  less  famous,  than 
Matthew  Hopkins  himself.  And  now  it  was  the 
turn  of  the  victorious  Cavaliers  to  be  regarded, 
by  Presbyterian  and  Parliamentarian,  as  owing 
their  success  to  the  help  of  Satan  and  his  agents. 
Their  Bishops  were  reported  to  be  cloven-footed 
and  shadowless,  their  military  commanders  to  be 
bullet-proof  by  enchantment,  and  to  possess 
horses  that  could  clamber  among  inaccessible 
rocks  like  foxes;  the  justices  who  put  fugitives 
on  trial  for  treason  were  seen  in  familiar 
converse  with  the  Fiend,  and  one  of  them 
was  known  to  have  offered  up  his  first-born  son 
to  Satan. 

A  representative  example  of  the  trials  held 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
is  that  consequent  upon  the  death  of  Sir 
George  Maxwell,  of  Pollock,  slain,  as  was 
supposed,  by  the  malice  of  "  some  haggs  and  one 
wizard."  A  full  account  of  it  is  given  in  the 
"  Memorialls  "  of  Robert  Law,  writer,  edited  from 
his  MS.  by  Charles  Kirkpatrick  Sharpe.  To  put 
it  briefly.  Sir  George,  having  been  ill  for  some 

250 


Persecutions  in  Scotland 

time,  having  great  pain  in  his  side  and  shoulder, 
a  dumb  girl  called  at  the  house  and  explained  by 
signs  that  his  waxen  "  picture  "  was  being  melted 
before  the  fire  in  a  certain  woman's  house,  who 
had  a  grudge  against  him.  Search  being  made, 
his  image  was  found  up  the  chimney.  Two  pins 
being  found  stuck  in  the  figure's  shoulder  were 
removed,  whereupon  Sir  George  recovered,  and 
the  woman  was  laid  by  the  heels  and  found  to 
have  several  witch-marks.  But  very  soon  the 
baronet  was  again  taken  ill.  The  witch's  house, 
now  inhabited  by  her  son,  was  again  searched,  and 
a  second  "  portraitour,"  this  time  of  clay,  found 
under  the  man's  bolster.  Arrested,  he  confessed 
that  the  Devil  had  visited  him,  in  company  with 
four  witches,  had  made  the  image  himself,  and 
stuck  pins  in  the  appropriate  limbs.  The  four 
witches  were  apprehended,  and,  with  the  young 
man,  burnt  at  Paisley;  but  this  did  not  prevent 
their  victim's  death.  A  few  months  later  he  died, 
"  being  worn  to  a  shadow,"  owing,  according  to 
the  dumb  girl,  to  the  existence  of  yet  another 
"  picture  "  which  his  friends  had  "  slighted." 

The  last  Scottish  execution  of  a  witch  took 
place  in  1722.  The  prisoner  was  accused  of 
having  turned  her  daughter  into  a  pony,  shod  by 
the  Devil  and  so  ridden  upon  her — whence  the 
girl  was  ever  afterwards  lame.  Found  guilty, 
this  last  of  a  long  line  of  martyrs  was  burned 
at  Dornoch,  and  scandalised  the  spectators — the 

251 


The   Book  of  Witches 

weather   being   chilly — by   composedly   warming 
her  hands  at  the  fire  that  was  to  consume  her. 

In  1735,  English  and  Scottish  statutes  against 
witchcraft  were  alike  repealed,  much  to  the  horror 
of  the  seceders  from  the  Established  Kirk,  who, 
in  their  annual  confession  of  National  and  Per- 
sonal Sins,  gave  a  prominent  place  to  "  The 
Penal  Statutes  against  Witches  having  been  re- 
pealed by  Parliament  contrary  to  the  express  Law 
of  God." 


2C2 


CHAPTER  XIII 

OTHER      PERSECUTIONS 

The  universality  of  the  belief  in  witchcraft  carried 
in  its  train  international  belief  in  the  efficacy  of 
persecution  as  its  cure.  When  one  nation  led  the 
others  were  bound  to  follow,  and  accordingly  we 
find  that  every  European  country — to  say 
nothing  of  non-Christian  peoples — lent  itself 
vigorously  to  this  form  of  legalised  murder.  But 
so  similar  are  the  details  of  these  proceedings 
that  witchcraft  might  claim  to  have  preceded 
Volapuk  or  Esperanto  as  an  international  bond. 
Everywhere  the  persecution  followed  the  same, 
or  parallel  lines,  differing  only  in  minor  national 
idiosyncrasies.  So  far  as  Catholic  countries  were 
in  question  this  was  natural  enough — seeing  that 
all  alike  drew  their  inspiration  from  the  same 
source — Innocent  VIII.'s  Bull;  while  the  Pro- 
testants, however  much  they  might  object  to  Papal 
persecution  of  their  peculiar  tenets,  heartily  agreed 
with  both  the  purpose  and  the  method  of  those 
directed  at  the  common  enemy  of  all. 

In  France,  as  elsewhere,  the  seventeenth  cen- 
253 


The   Book  of  Witches 

tury  saw  the  witch-fever  rise  to  its  most  extrava- 
gant  height.       Though  it  is  difficult  to  compare 
them  in  degree — where  all  alike  rose  to  the  highest 
level  of  bloodthirstiness — the  French  may  be  said 
to  have  excelled  their  ancient  rivals  in  thorough- 
ness.    Thus  the  direction  of  the  campaign  was 
in  the  direct  control  of  either  Church  or  State, 
rather  than  being  submitted  to  the  ordinary  process 
of  the  law;    they  were  official  rather  than  local, 
and  witchcraft  a  religious  and  political  rather  than 
a  merely  criminal  offence.     Thus,  in  1634,  Urbain 
Grandier,     who    had     satirised     Richelieu,     was 
accused,   at  the  Cardinal's  direct  instigation,   of 
practising   the    Black   Art   upon    some    nuns    at 
Loudun,  and  was  in   due  course  burned  at  the 
stake;    and  many  similar  cases  are  recorded.     A 
point  in  which  the  French  practice  differed  from 
the  English  in  the  matter  of  witch-finding  was  that, 
while  in  England  the  affair  was  usually  entrusted 
to  the  care  of  such  comparatively  humble  persons 
as  Matthew  Hopkins,  the  French  Commissioner 
was  an  official  of  importance,  and  usually,  as  in 
the  case  of  Pierre  de  Lancre,  of  education.    This 
gentleman,  sent  as  we  have  seen  at  the  instance 
of  the  King,  according  to  his  own  account,  by  the 
Parliament  of  Bordeaux  to  investigate  the  charges 
of  wholesale  witchcraft  against  the  inhabitants  of 
the  Labourt  district  in  1608,  has  himself  provided 
us  with  illuminating  insight  into  such  an  official's 
frame  of  mind.     This  is  shown  even  more  clearly 

254 


Other    Persecutions 

in  his  introductory  argument  than  in  his  book — - 
already  frequently  referred  to — written  to  prove 
the  inconstancy  of  devils  and  bad  angels.  Towards 
this  end  he  sets  out  to  prove  the  inconstancy  of 
the  natives  of  Labourt  and  their  peculiar  liability 
to  Satan's  snares.  Then  he  argues  that  Labourt 
must,  on  the  face  of  it,  breed  an  unsettled  and 
inconstant  race,  being  both  mountainous  and 
situated  on  the  borders  of  three  kingdoms,  France, 
Spain,  and  Navarre.  Its  language,  being  like- 
wise varied — a  mixture  of  French,  Spanish, 
and  Basque — is  in  itself  another  powerful  argu- 
ment. Its  inhabitants,  again,  are  for  the  most  part 
sailors,  when  they  might  with  better  reason  be 
farmers,  because  they  prefer  the  inconstant  sea  to 
the  firm,  unchanging  land.  Their  long  absences, 
he  finds,  tends  to  make  their  wives  unfaithful — 
another  powerful  impetus  towards  witchcraft. 
Although  the  Commissioner — a  man  of  open 
mind — confesses  that  their  dress  is  not  indecent; 
he  has  grave  doubts  about  their  dances,  being 
not  quiet  and  respectable,  but  rowdy  in  the 
extreme,  and  accompanied  upon  the  tambourine, 
an  instrument  of  baleful  significance.  They  live 
very  largely  upon  apples — which  may  also  account 
for  their  proneness  to  forbidden  things,  the 
Devil's  power  over  the  apple  having  been  recog- 
nised ever  since  the  days  of  Eve.  De  Lancre 
even  puts  forward  the  assertions  of  heretical 
Scottish  and  English  merchants,  who  have  visited 


The    Book  of  Witches 

Bordeaux  to  buy  wines,  and  have  there  assured 
him  that  they  have  often  seen  large  troops  of 
daemons  heading  across  the  sea  straight  for 
Labourt.  From  all  of  which  the  Commissioner 
concludes  that  there  is  scarcely  a  family  in  the 
district  but  is  more  or  less  deeply  involved  in  or 
connected  with  witchcraft  and  its  practices. 

The  same  causes  which  rendered  the  French 
persecutions  more  severe  while  they  lasted,  also 
brought  it  about  that  any  relaxation  of  the 
Governmental  attitude  diminished  them  to  a 
greater  extent  than  was  the  case  in  England, 
where  witchcraft  had  a  more  personal  aspect.  The 
armed  peasant,  who,  musket  in  hand,  proved  his 
possession  of  supernatural  powers  by  defeating 
the  King's  best  troops  led  by  a  Marshall  of 
France,  among  the  bare  peaks  of  the  Cevennes,  in 
defence  of  his  detestable  heresies,  might  look  for 
nothing  but  ruthless  extermination  as  a  wizard; 
but  even  Governments  have  human  memories, 
and  the  humble  old  woman  muttering  spells  in 
obscure  corners  of  the  kingdom,  was  apt  to  be 
overlooked.  Sometimes,  too,  as  the  years  passed, 
the  Royal  Person  actually  interfered  to  shield 
the  accused  from  less  official  persecution. 
Thus,  when  in  1672,  a  number  of  shepherds 
were  arrested  in  Normandy  and  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Rouen  prepared  for  an  investigation 
similar  to  that  previously  held  at  Labourt,  the 
King  ordered  all  the  accused  to  be  set  at  liberty, 

256 


Other  Persecutions 

with  salutary  effect  in  dissipating  the  increasing 
;vitch-fever.  Some  ten  years  later,  however,  a 
Royal  edict  revived  all  previous  ordinances 
against  sorcery  and  divination.  Many  such  cases 
were  tried  before  the  "  Chambre  Ardente,"  the 
last  being  that  of  a  woman  named  Voisin,  con- 
demned for  sorcery  and  poisoning  in  1680.  The 
anti-sorcery  laws  were  in  force  until  the  mid- 
eighteenth  century,  while  as  proof  of  the  persis- 
tence of  the  superstition  we  may  again  quote  the 
case  of  the  Soubervies,  in  1850,  already  referred 
to. 

Germany — the  land  of  sentiment,  no  less  than 
of  common  sense — was  not  different  from  her 
neighbours  in  her  method  of  regarding  the  witch. 
The  German,  though  he  protested  against  the 
methods  of  the  Inquisition,  as  applied  to  himself, 
could  have  no  objection  to  its  treatment  of  the 
witch-question.  Cases  were  sometimes  heard  in 
the  civil  court,  but  were  far  more  frequently  left 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Church.  At  the  end 
of  the  fifteenth  century  the  Inquisitors  Sprenger 
and  Kramer  taught  the  whole  duty  of  an  Inquisi- 
tor in  the  "  Malleus  Maleficarum,"  and  found 
many  apt  pupils  throughout  the  Empire.  Perse- 
cutions of  unprecedented  fierceness  broke  out  in 
many  districts,  one  of  the  most  striking  examples 
being  that  at  Trier  in  the  second  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  For  many  years  there  had  been 
failure  of  crops  and  increasing  sterility  throughout 

257  s 


The  Book  of  Witches 

the  land,  attributed  by  many  to  the  increase  of 
witchcraft  and  the  maHce  of  the  Devil.     In  time, 
so  ferocious  became  the  popular  antipathy  that 
scarcely  any  who  fell  under  suspicion  had  the 
remotest  chance  of  escape.     It  was  perhaps  the 
most  democratic  persecution  recorded  in  history; 
neither  rank  nor  wealth  was  of  the  least  avail  in 
face    of    accusation.     Canon    Linden,    an    eye- 
witness,  relates  that  two   Burgomasters,   several 
councillors  and  associate  judges,  canons  of  sun- 
dry collegiate  churches,  parish  priests  and  rural 
deans   were    among    the    victims.     Dr.    Dietrich 
Flade,  judge   of   the   secular  court  and   deputy 
governor  of  the  city,  strove  to  check  the  persecu- 
tion and  fell  a  victim  to  it  for  his  pains.     He  was 
accused,  tortured  into  confessing  various  crimes  of 
sorcery,   and   burned   at  the   stake   in    1589.     A 
Dutch  scholar,  Cornelius  Loos  by  name,  a  reputed 
disciple  of  Wierus  and  tenant  of  a  professorial 
chair  at  the  Trier  University,  also  ventured  to 
enter  a  protest  against  the   prevalent  madness. 
Failing  in  his  appeal  to  the  authorities  he  wTote  a 
book,  in  which  his  views  were  set  forth  at  length. 
It  was  seized  while  in  the  printers'  hands  and  its 
author  cast  into  prison.     He  was,  however,  re- 
leased  in   the   spring   of    1593    upon   uttering   a 
solemn  recantation — published  in  book  form  six 
years  later  by  Del  Rio.       Far  from  curing  the 
barrenness  of  the  land,  the  persecution  only  in- 
creased it — and  thus  provided  its  own  cure — dying 

258 


Other  Persecutions 

down  at  last  when  the  general  poverty  prevented 
the  necessary  funds  being  provided  for  its 
maintenance. 

A  pathetic  incident  is  recorded  of  another  for- 
midable outburst  of  the  witch-mania — at  Bamberg 
in  1628.  The  Burgomasterjohannes  Junius,  was 
among  those  put  on  trial.  In  the  beginning  he 
denied  all  the  charges  against  him,  but  being 
put  to  the  torture,  confessed  that  he  had  been  pre- 
sent at  a  witch  gathering  and  a  witch-dance  and 
had  desecrated  the  Host.  Such  a  confession, 
though  it  spared  him  further  torture,  did  not,  of 
course,  stay  his  execution.  Some  little  time  after, 
having  partially  recovered  from  his  first  agonies, 
he  was  in  great  distress  of  mind  as  to  the  opinion 
his  dearly-loved  daughter  should  hold  of  him 
after  his  death.  With  sorely  maimed  hands  he 
yet  managed  to  scrawl  a  letter  and  ensure  its 
reaching  her.  In  it  he  appeals  in  agony  of  heart 
that  she  shall  not  believe  the  matter  of  his  en- 
forced confession  :  "  Innocent  have  I  come  into 
prison,  innocent  have  I  been  tortured,  and  inno- 
cent must  I  die I  confessed  only  in  order 

to  escape  the  great  anguish  and  bitter  torture, 
such  as  it  was  impossible  for  me  longer  to  bear." 
Unfortunately  the  torturers  were  never  satisfied 
with  a  confession  unless  it  implicated  other  people 
as  well,  and  the  case  of  Junius  and  some  of  his 
friends  and  neighbours  who  also  suffered  formed 
no  exception  to  the  rule. 

259  s  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

The  Bamberg  persecution  was  succeeded  by 
one  at  Wurzburg  in  the  following  year.  Fortu- 
nately the  noble  Jesuit  priest  and  poet,  Friedrich 
von  Spec,  was  appointed  confessor  of  those  sen- 
tenced to  death,  and  was  inspired  to  write,  in 
1 63 1,  his  "  Cautio  Criminalis,''  which,  published 
anonymously,  did  much  to  stem  the  tide  of  perse- 
cution. "  Incredible  among  us  Germans,"  he 
begins,  "  and  especially  (I  blush  to  say  it)  among 
Catholics,  are  the  popular  superstitions,  envy, 
calumnies,  backbitings,  insinuations  and  the  like, 
which  being  neither  punished  by  the  magistrates 
nor  refuted  by  the  pulpit,  first  stir  up  suspicion 
of  witchcraft.  All  the  Divine  judgments  which 
God  has  threatened  in  Holy  Writ  are  now 
ascribed  to  witches.  No  longer  do  God  or  Nature 
aught,  but  witches  everything." 

It  was  a  long  time,  however,  before  such  en- 
lightened views  could  obtain  universal  credence, 
and  it  was  in  Germany  that  the  last  European 
execution  for  witchcraft  took  place,  so  lately  as 

1793- 

The  international  epidemic  did  not  spread  to 
Sweden  till  the  end  of  the  century,  when  it  broke 
out,  in  more  than  usually  eccentric  form,  in  the 
village  of  Mohra.  It  was  chiefly  remarkable 
for  the  number  of  children  concerned.  "  Four 
score  and  five  persons,  fifteen  of  them  children, 
were  condemned,  and  most,  if  not  all  of  them, 
were  burnt  and  executed.     There  were  besides 

260 


Other  Persecutions 

six-and-thirty  children  that  ran  the  gauntlet  and 
twenty  were  whipt  on  the  hands  at  the  Church- 
door  every  Sunday  for  three  weeks  together." 
The  whole  proceedings  were,  indeed,  almost  a 
children's  drama  and  no  emanation  of  childish 
imagination  but  was  eagerly  swallowed  by  a 
normally  sober  and  sensible  community.  Most 
probably,  indeed,  the  whole  affair  had  its  foun- 
dation in  some  myth  or  folk-story  more  or  less 
popular  in  all  the  local  nurseries.  Indeed,  were  we 
of  the  present  generation  to  return  to  the  earlier 
belief  in  lycanthropy  and  the  ceaseless  malig- 
nancy of  ubiquitous  were-wolves,  it  is  easily  with- 
in the  bounds  of  possibility  that  "  Red  Riding 
Hood,"  a  story  which  quite  conceivably  owes  its 
origin  to  the  same  superstition,  might  bring  about 
some  similar  panic.  An  imaginative  child  might 
easily  mix  up  the  grandmother  in  the  story  with 
the  wolf  who  devours  her  :  might  thus  come  to 
the  conclusion  that  his  own  grandmother  occa- 
sionally masqueraded  in  the  form  of  a  wolf : 
might  in  time  convince  himself  that  he  had  actu- 
ally seen  her  thus  transmogrified,  and  might  thus 
in  time  bring  not  only  his  own  venerable  relative 
but  those  of  half  the  other  children  in  the  school 
that  he  attended  under  unpleasant  suspicion  and 
not  improbably  to  a  more  unpleasant  death. 

The  mainstay  of  the  Mohra  panic  was  the 
sudden  belief — propagated  by  the  children 
themselves — that   some   hundreds    of   them   had 

261 


The  Book  of  Witches 

been  brought  under  the  power  of  the  Devil  by 
local  witches.  The  whole  community  took  the 
alarm,  the  Government  was  appealed  to,  and  a 
Royal  Commission  embodied  to  investigate  the 
charges — ^with  sanguinary  results.  It  was  de- 
clared that  the  witches  instructed  the  children  to 
go  to  the  cross-ways,  and  there  to  invoke  the 
Devil,  begging  him  to  carry  them  to  the  Blockula, 
the  favourite  local  mountain  meeting-place  for 
Sabbaths.  Satan,  in  answering  their  prayers, 
appeared  in  many  forms,  the  most  original  being 
that  of  a  man  with  a  red  beard,  wearing  a  grey 
coat,  red  and  blue  stockings,  a  high-crowned  hat 
adorned  with  ribbons  of  many  colours,  and  pre- 
posterous garters.  So  attired  he  must  have 
wanted  only  a  magic  pipe  to  serve  as  double  to 
the  Pied  Piper  of  Hamelin,  the  Teutonic  legend 
most  nearly  recalled  by  the  whole  circumstance. 
He  provided  the  children  with  mounts  and 
anointed  them  with  unguent  composed  of  the 
scrapings  of  altars  and  the  filings  of  church- 
clocks.  Another  account  says  that  the  witches 
accompanied  the  children,  riding  with  them  to  the 
Blockula  on  men's  backs — the  said  men,  upon 
arriving  there,  being  propped  against  the  wall, 
fast  asleep.  Now  and  again  they  preferred  to 
ride  upon  posts,  or  goats  transfixed  upon  spits, 
and  they  flew  through  walls,  chimneys,  and 
windows  without  either  injuring  themselves  or 
breaking  the  glass  and  bricks. 

262 


Other  Persecutions 

The  actual  transportation  of  the  children  gave 
rise  to  many  weighty  arguments.  All  the  time 
they  asserted  they  were  at  the  Blockula,  their 
parents  declared  that  they  had  held  them  asleep 
in  their  arms.  It  was  finally  concluded  that  their 
nocturnal  travels  might  be  either  in  the  flesh  or 
the  spirit,  according  to  circumstances.  So  firmly 
did  many  parents  credit  their  children's  assertions 
that  a  local  clergyman  determined  to  watch  his 
little  son  throughout  the  night,  holding  him 
tightly  in  his  arms;  but  even  this  ocular  demon- 
stration did  not  serve  to  convince  the  mother. 

Upon  the  Blockula  was  declared  to  be  a  fine 
house,  having  a  gate  painted  in  very  gay  colours. 
Within  it  were  a  large  banqueting-hall  and  other 
rooms.  The  food  served  at  the  banquets  con- 
sisted of  such  nourishing  fare  as  coleworts,  bacon, 
and  bread,  butter,  milk  and  cheese — all  of  them, 
be  it  noted,  familiar  to  childish  palates,  as  was 
the  feast  of  the  Lancashire  witches — quoted  else- 
where— to  the  "  Informer."  Those  who  at- 
tended the  Blockula  gave  birth  to  sons  and 
daughters,  who  were  married  in  their  turn  to  each 
other,  their  children  being  toads  and  serpents. 
They  built  houses,  but  so  badly  that  the  walls 
fell  upon  them,  making  them  black  and  blue; 
they  were  beaten,  abused,  and  laughed  at — yet 
when  on  one  occasion  they  thought  the  Devil  was 
dead,  the  place  was  filled  with  wailings  and 
lamentations.     As  usually  happened  in  such  per- 

263 


The  Book  of  Witches 

secutions,  the  bloodshed  at  last  brought  people  to 
their  senses — perhaps  the  execution  of  fifteen 
children  gave  their  parents  pause.  At  all  events, 
the  Commission  was  in  due  course  dissolved,  and 
the  persecution  came  to  a  sudden  end,  though 
prayers  continued  to  be  offered  weekly  in  the 
church  against  any  other  such  horrible  visitation 
— as  indeed  they  well  might ! 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  give  more  than  a 
general  idea  of  the  most  outstanding  historic 
persecutions — for,  as  I  have  said,  they  differ  only 
in  minor  degrees  in  different  times  and  places. 
There  are,  however,  yet  one  other  group  too  strik- 
ing to  be  ignored — those  which  raged  in  the  New 
England  Colonies.  It  might  have  been  sup- 
posed, by  one  unconversant  with  human  nature, 
that  the  memory  of  their  own  sufferings  would 
have  softened  the  hearts  of  the  colonists  when  they 
themselves  were  in  power.  The  reverse  was  the 
case ;  their  enmity  against  their  former  oppressors 
was  diverted  towards  this  new  channel,  gaining 
force  in  the  process.  There  is  indeed  some  excuse 
to  be  found  for  their  mental  attitude.  Springing 
in  the  most  cases  from  the  humbler  class,  they  had 
many  privations  and  sufferings  to  endure  before 
they  could  gain  any  respite  in  their  newly-settled 
country  to  think  of  progressive  education.  Their 
warfare  against  the  Indians  might  well  have  given 
both  sides  reason  to  think  that  the  Devil  was 
indeed  arrayed  upon  the  side  of  their  enemies— 

264 


Other  Persecutions 

and  in  time  the  gloomy  superstitions  of  the  natives 
served  to  buttress  the  imported  beliefs  of  Europe. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
to  the  end  the  settlers  had  been  forced  to  devote 
most  of  their  thoughts  to  means  of  subsistence 
alone,  and  there  had  been  no  opportunity  for 
speculative  thought  to  modify  ideas  which,  stand- 
ing still,  became  more  and  more  stereotyped. 
The  precarious  existence  of  the  infant  State  also 
gave  its  leaders  every  ground  for  taking  the 
severest  measures  towards  anything  considered  to 
be  dangerous  to  its  welfare.  As  early  as  1648, 
Margaret  Jones  of  Charlestone  was  accused  of 
practising  witchcraft.  The  charge  was  "  that  she 
was  found  to  have  such  a  malignant  touch  as 
many  persons,  men,  women  and  children  whom 
she  stroked  or  touched  in  any  affliction  or  dis- 
pleasure, were  taken  with  deafness  or  vomiting, 
or  other  violent  pains  or  sickness."  Governor 
Winthrop,  in  whose  Journals  the  account  is 
found,  also  adds  that  "  in  prison  there  was  seen 
in  her  arms  a  little  child  which  ran  from  her  into 
another  room,  the  officer  following  it,  it  vanished." 

Margaret  Jones  was  found  guilty  of  the  crime 
of  witchcraft,  and  was  hanged  according  to  the 
law.  Soon  after  her  execution  her  husband 
wished  to  go  to  Barbadoes  in  a  vessel  lying  in 
Boston  Harbour.  He  was  refused  a  passage  as 
being  the  husband  of  a  witch,  and  thereupon  the 
vessel  began  to  roll  as  though  it  would  turn  over. 

265 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Instead  of  the  phenomenon  being  attributed  to 
the  refusal  to  take  an  innocent  man  on  board,  it 
was  reported  to  the  magistrate,  and  an  officer  was 
sent  to  arrest  Jones.  On  his  exhibiting  the  war- 
rant for  the  arrest,  the  vessel  instantly  ceased  to 
roll.  Jones  was  thrown  into  prison,  but  there  is 
no  evidence  of  his  ever  having  been  tried. 

In  1655,  Ann  Hibbins  was  hanged  at  Boston 
for  witchcraft;  there  were  witch-executions  in 
different  places  at  ever-decreasing  intervals.  One 
of  the  most  interesting  cases  of  witchcraft  was 
that  of  the  Goodwin  family  in  1688.  A  full 
account  of  this  case  is  given  by  Cotton  Mather, 
"  Minister  of  the  Gospel,"  in  a  book  which  pur- 
ported to  contain  "  a  faithful  account  of  many 
Wonderful  and  Surprising  Things  that  have  be- 
fallen several  Bewitched  and  Possessed  Persons 
in  New  England."  In  his  own  words,  in  1689, 
"  There  dwells  at  this  time  in  the  South  part 
of  Boston  a  sober  and  pious  man,  whose  name  is 
John  Goodwin,  whose  Trade  is  that  of  a  Mason, 
and  whose  Wife  (to  whom  a  good  Report  gives 
a  share  with  him  in  all  the  characters  of  Virtue) 
has  made  him  the  Father  of  six  (now  living) 
children.  Of  these  children  all  but  the  eldest, 
who  works  with  his  Father  at  his  calling,  and  the 
youngest,  who  lives  yet  upon  the  Breast  of  its 
mother,  have  laboured  under  the  direful  effects 
of  a  (no  less  palpable  than)  stupendous  WITCH- 
CRAFT,"    After    explaining     the    godly    and 

266 


Other  Persecutions 

virtuous  tendencies  of  the  children  and  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  upbringing  and  religious  educa- 
tion, Mather  says : — "  Such  was  the  whole 
Temper  and  Courage  of  the  children  that  there 
cannot  easily  be  anything  more  unreasonable  than 
to  imagine  that  a  Design  to  Dissemble  could 
cause  them  to  fall  into  any  of  their  odd  Fits." 

In  1688  the  eldest  daughter,  on  examining  the 
linen,  found  that  some  of  it  was  missing,  and 
questioned  the  daughter  of  the  washerwoman 
with  regard  to  it.  The  washerwoman — as  might 
have  happened  in  much  later  times — used  very 
bad  language  in  her  daughter's  defence,  where- 
upon poor  Miss  Goodwin  "  became  variously  in- 
disposed in  her  health,  and  was  visited  with 
strange  Fits,  beyond  those  that  attend  an  Epi- 
lepsy or  a  Catalepsy,  or  those  that  they  call  the 
Diseases  of  Astonishment."  Shortly  afterwards 
one  of  her  sisters  and  two  of  her  brothers  were 
seized  in  a  like  manner  and  "were  all 
four  tortured  everywhere  in  a  manner  so 
very  grievous  that  it  would  have  broken 
an  heart  of  stone  to  have  seen  their  agonies." 
"Physicians  were  of  no  avail.  Sometimes 
they  would  be  Deaf,  sometimes  Dumb,  and 
sometimes  Blind,  and  often  all  this  at  once.  One 
while  their  Tongues  would  be  drawn  down  their 
throats,  another  while  they  would  be  pulled  out 
upon  their  chins  to  a  prodigious  length.  They 
would  have  their  mouths  opened  into  sue!   wide- 

267 


The  Book  of  Witches 

ness  that  their  Jaws  went  out  of  joint;  and  anon 
they  would  clap  together  with  a  force  like  that 
of  a  Strong  Spring-Lock.  The  same  would 
happen  to  their  Shoulder-Blades,  and  their 
Elbows  and  Hand-wrists  and  several  of  their 
Joints.  They  would  at  times  ly  in  a  benummed 
condition,  and  be  drawn  together  as  those  that 
are  tyed  Neck  and  Heels,  and  presently  be 
stretched  out,  yea,  drawn  Backwards  to  such  a 
degree  it  was  feared  the  very  skin  of  their  Bellies 
would  have  crack'd."  There  were  many  other 
symptoms  which  Mather  relates  with  zealous 
satisfaction. — At  last  the  distracted  father  told 
the  Magistrates  of  his  suspicions  of  the  washer- 
woman Glover.  On  being  examined,  she  gave 
such  a  poor  account  of  herself  that  she  was  com- 
mitted to  prison.  It  was  found  that  she  could 
not  say  the  Lord's  Prayer,  even  when  it  was  re- 
peated to  her  clause  by  clause,  and  when  she  was 
committed  it  was  found  that  all  the  children  "  had 
some  present  ease."  The  supposed  witch  was 
brought  to  trial,  but,  being  an  Irishwoman,  there 
were  difficulties  in  her  understanding  the  ques- 
tions, which  told  very  badly  against  her.  Orders 
were  given  to  search  her  house,  and  several  small 
images — dolls,  perhaps — made  of  rags  and 
stuffed  with  goat's-hair,  were  found.  The  old 
woman  then  confessed  "  that  her  way  to  torment 
the  objects  of  her  malice  was  by  rubbing  of  her 
Finger  with  her  spittle,  and  stroaking  of  those 

268 


Other  Persecutions 

little  Images."  When  one  of  the  images  was 
brought  to  her,  she  took  it  in  her  hand,  and  im- 
mediately one  of  the  children  fell  into  fits  before 
the  whole  assembly.  Witnesses  were  easily  found 
against  her,  one  of  whom  said  that  Glover  had 
sometimes  come  down  her  chimney.  After  her 
condemnation  the  worthy  Mather  visited  her  in 
prison,  "  but  she  entertained  me  with  nothing  but 
Irish,  which  language  I  have  not  Learning  enough 
to  understand  without  an  Interpreter."  On  her 
way  to  execution  she  declared  that  her  death 
would  not  end  the  sufferings  of  the  children,  as 
there  were  more  in  it  besides  herself ;  and  so  it 
proved.  The  children  would  bark  like  dogs 
and  purr  like  cats,  and  they  would  fly  like 
geese.  "  Such  is  Satanic  perversity  that  if  one 
ordered  them  to  Rub  a  clean  table,  they  were 
able  to  do  it  without  any  disturbance ;  if  to  rub  a 
dirty  Table,  presumably  they  would,  with  many 
Torments,  be  made  uncapable."  Mather  relates 
that  owing  to  their  Bewitchments,  holy  Books 
caused  them  horrible  agonies.  One  girl  told  him 
that  if  she  went  to  read  the  Bible,  her  eyes  would 
be  strangely  twisted  and  blinded,  and  her  neck 
presumably  broken,  but  also  that  if  anyone  else 
did  read  the  Bible  in  the  Room,  though  it  were 
wholly  out  of  her  sight,  and  without  the  least  voice 
or  noise  of  it,  she  would  be  cast  into  very 
horrible  agonies.  "  A  Popish  Book"  says  Mather, 
"she   would  endure   very  well   and   also  books 

269  1^ 


The  Book  of  Witches 

such  as  the  '  Oxford  Tests  '  " — Mather  must  be 
forgiven  for  being  a  partisan — but  "  my  grand- 
father Cotton's  catechism  called  '  Milk  for 
Babes  '  and  the  Assemblie's  Catechism  would 
bring  hideous  convulsions  on  the  child  if  she 
look'd  into  them."  With  a  certain  unconscious 
jocularity,  Mather  hopes  that  he  has  "  not  spoilt 
the  credit  of  the  books  by  telling  how  much  the 
Devil  hated  them." 

At  last  Cotton  Mather  and  some  devout  neigh- 
bours kept  a  day  of  prayer  on  behalf  of  the 
afflicted  children,  and  gradually  "  the  liberty  of 
the  children  increased  daily  more  and  more,  and 
their  vexation  abated  by  degrees,"  though  demons 
and  spirits  continued  to  trouble  Boston  for  some 
time  after. 

In  1692  Salem  village  was  the  scene  of  a  fierce 
outbreak  against  witchcraft,  which  lasted  some 
16  months.  Cotton  Mather  attributes  it  to  the 
Indian  "  Paw-Maws,"  but  Hutchinson,  with  his 
usual  common  sense,  probably  hits  upon  at  least 
one  of  the  real  causes.  Mather  had  published  a 
book  on  witchcraft  in  1689.  It  was  strongly  re- 
commended in  England  by  Richard  Baxter,  who 
a  short  time  later  published  his  own  "  Certainty  of 
the  World  of  Spirits."  This  contained  a  testi- 
mony to  Mather,  and  he,  in  his  turn,  caused  it  to 
be  widely  circulated  in  New  England.  The 
witch  epidemic  at  Salem  occurred  but  a  short  time 
after     this    and     Hutchinson     attributes     it     to 

270 


Other  Persecutions 


"      A  "  his  and  his  father's  " 
« Mr.  Baxter's  book,    ^na  ^  ^^^  ^^ 

^,,.,  Mather'sbook  and  that  o^^  ^^^^  .  ^,,^^ 

b^e'TSnT^iSteat--^^-^^^^^^ 

-^l^--;,,,  .  -- !:;.l^r the%Tac:  ^d 

house  of  Mr.  P^-^^^^tJan  to  act  in  an  un- 
several  other  P-P^^^^^^,;,  Lo  holes  and  under 
usual  manner.  T^ii?^  "  ^.^  antick  gestures  and 
chairs  and  stools,    ^^ey  u'  .^^^  ^^3.     After 

spake  ridiculous  speeches  and  ^^^  ^^^^^^^ 

some  time  and  a  day  f  P-yj^    ^.^  they  saw  m 
persons  named  several  that  tny  .^^j^,   an 

Lir  fits  afflicting  ^he-a^^Vwoman,   Trhuba 
Indian  woman.        1  tie  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^^arms, 

^as  her  name,  was  depose^  ^^^  ^^^ 

at  the  beginning  o   the  out  ^^.^^  ^^  ^^dian 

of  the  witches  but  the  tact  ^^  ^^^^  ^^3. 

would  probably  ^ave  been  su^^^^^^  ^^^ 
picion  upon  her.     ^n  bei  g      ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^as 
ened  by  her  "taster  she  co  ^^^  ^^  ^^^^ 

a  witch,  and  said  the  Devil  u  g  ^^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^ 
book.  Two  other  ^^^^'^^^^^^^  ^f  having  be- 
were  accused  by  ^J^ Jj^^^^.^  ^ere  issued  for  their 
witched  them  and  warrants  .^  .^  ^^^^^^ 

arrest.  AH  three  were  sent  to  J  ^^^^  ^^^ 
Good's  little  daughter  Do  ca.g^^^^_^„d  her 
called  upon  to  testdy  ag--^^^^^.^  ..  .  That  her 
:rLr:;SonfhU  and  one  green,  and 


The  Book  of   Witches 

these  birds  hurt  the  children  and  afflicted  per- 
sons." Sarah  Good  was  sentenced  to  be  hanged. 
The  Rev.  Mr.  Voyes  told  her  as  she  stood  on 
the  scaffold,  "  You  are  a  witch  and  you  know 
you  are  a  witch."  She  replied,  "  You  are  a  Har. 
I  am  no  more  a  witch  than  you  are  a  wizard, 
and  if  you  take  my  life  God  will  give  you  blood 
to  drink."  Sarah  Osborn  died  in  prison,  and 
the  bill  of  the  Boston  jailer  for  the  expenses  of 
both  women  runs  thus  : — 

£   s.    d. 
To   chains   for   Sarah   Good   and 

Sarah  Osborn 14     o 

To  keeping   Sarah   Osborn   from 

the    7th    March    to    loth    May, 

when  she  died,  being  nine  weeks 

and  two  days     ...  ...  ...      i     3     5 

Tihuba  was  kept  in  prison  for  13  months  and 
was  then  sold  to  pay  her  prison  fees. 

The  arrest  of  these  three  women  was  followed 
almost  immediately  by  many  more  accusations. 
The  arrival  of  Governor  Phips  in  May,  armed 
with  a  charter  which  empowered  the  general 
court  to  erect  and  constitute  judicatories  and 
courts  of  record,  or  other  courts  of  which  the 
Governor  was  to  appoint  the  judges,  gave  a  great 
impetus  to  the  persecution.  Finding  the  prison 
full  of  witches  he  gave  orders  for  their  immediate 
trial.  All  through  June  and  July  the  cases 
crowded  one  upon  another,  and  such  was  the  pitch 

272 


Other  Persecutions 

of  superstitious  terror  to  which  the  people  of 
Salem  had  arrived,  that  two  dogs  were  put  to 
death  for  witchcraft.  The  cases  of  Martha  and 
Giles  Carey,  and  of  Rebecca  Nurse,  are  so  well- 
known  that  we  will  rather  turn  to  the  trial  of 
Susanna  Martin,  held  in  the  court  of  Oyer  and 
terminated  at  Salem  on  June  29th,  1692. 

Cotton  Mather  relates  of  her  that : — "  Susanna 
Martin,  pleading  '  Not  Guilty  '  to  the  indictment 
of  witchcraft  brought  in  against  her,  there  were 
produced  the  evidences  of  many  persons  very 
sensibly  and  grievously  bewitched,  who  all  com- 
plained of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  as  the  person 
they  believed  the  cause  of  their  miseries." 

At  the  examination  the  cast  of  Susanna's  eye 
was  supposed  to  strike  the  afflicted  people  to  the 
ground  whether  they  saw  it  or  not. 

Magistrate.   Pray   what   ails  these  people? 

Martin.   I   don't  know. 

Mag.   But  what  do  you   think  ails  them? 

Martin.   I  don't  desire  to  spend  my  judgment  upon  it. 

Mag.   Don't  you  think  they  are  bewitched? 

Martin.   No,  I  do  not  think  they  are. 

Mag.  Tell  us  your  thoughts  about  them  then. 

Martin.  No,  my  thoughts  are  my  own  when  they  are 
in;  but  when  they  are  out  they  are  another's.  Their 
master 

Mag.  Their  Master?  Who  do  you  think  is  their 
Master  ? 

Martin.  If  they  be  dealing  in  the  Black  Art,  you  may 
know  as  well  as  I. 

Mag.  Well.     What  have  you  done  towards   this? 
'      273  T 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Martin.   Nothing   at  all. 

Mag.  Why,    it  is   you   or  your   appearance. 

Martin.   I    cannot   help  it. 

Mag.  Is  it  not  your  Master?  How  comes  your  appear- 
ance to  hurt  these? 

Martin.  How  do  I  know?  He  that  appeared  in  the 
shape  of  Samuel,  a  glorified  Saint,  may  appear  in  any- 
one's shape. 

John  Allen,  of  Salisbury,  testified  that  he 
having  refused  because  of  the  weakness  of  his 
oxen  to  cart  some  staves  at  Susanna  Martin's 
request,  she  was  angry  and  said,  "  It  had  been 
as  good  that  he  had,  for  his  oxen  should  never 
do  him  much  more  service."  The  w^itness  an- 
swered her,  "  Dost  thou  threaten  me,  thou  old 
witch?  ril  throw  thee  into  the  brook !  "  to  escape 
which  she  flew  over  the  bridge  and  escaped.  From 
that  time  various  misfortunes  happened  to  his 
oxen  and  they  ended  by  swimming  out  into  the 
sea.  Of  fourteen  good  oxen  only  one  was  saved, 
the  rest  were  cast  up  drowned  in  different  places. 

John  Atkinson  also  testified  to  the  bewitching 
of  cattle  by  Martin,  and  Bernard  Peache  said, 
"  that  Being  in  Bed,  on  a  Lord's  Day  night,  he 
heard  a  Scrubbing  at  the  Window,  whereat  he  then 
saw  Susanna  Martin  come  in  and  jumped  down 
upon  the  floor."  She  took  hold  of  witness's  feet 
and  drew  his  body  up  into  a  heap.  For  two  hours 
he  could  neither  speak  nor  stir,  but  at  length  he 
caught  her  hand  and  bit  three  of  her  fingers  to 
the  bone.     Whereupon  she  went  down  the  stairs 

274 

\ 


Other   Persecutions 

and  out  of  the  door.  Snow  was  lying  on  the 
ground  and  drops  of  blood  were  found  upon  it, 
as  also  in  a  bucket  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the 
door.  The  marks  of  her  two  feet  were  found  just 
without  the  threshold,  but  there  was  no  sign  of 
them  any  further  off.  Another  accusation  against 
Susanna  was  that  after  a  long  walk  her  feet  were 
dry  when  other  people's  would  have  been  wet. 
John  Kembal  had  wished  to  buy  a  puppy  of 
Martin,  but  as  she  would  not  let  him  choose  the 
one  he  wanted  he  bought  one  elsewhere.  "  Where- 
upon Susanna  Martin  replied,  '  If  I  live  I'll  give 
him  puppies  enough.'  Within  a  few  days  after 
this,  Kembal  coming  out  of  the  woods,  there  arose 
a  little  cloud  in  the  N.W.  and  Kembal  imme- 
diately felt  a  force  upon  him  that  made  him  not 
able  to  avoid  running  upon  the  stumps  of  trees 
that  were  before  him,  albeit  that  he  had  a  broad 
plain  cartway  before  him;  but  though  he  had  his 
ax  also  upon  his  shoulder  to  endanger  him  in  his 
Falls,  he  could  not  forbear  going  out  of  his  way 
to  tumble  over  them.  When  he  came  below  the 
Meeting  House  there  appeared  unto  him  a  little 
thing  like  a  Puppy  of  a  Darkish  colour,  and  it 
shot  Backwards  and  forwards  between  his  Leggs. 
He  had  the  courage  to  use  all  possible  Endeavours 
of  cutting  it  with  his  ax ;  but  he  could  not  Hit  it ; 
the  Puppy  gave  a  jump  from  him  and  went,  as  to 
hihi  it  seem'd,  into  the  ground.  Going  a  little 
further,  there  appeared  unto  him  a  Black  Puppy, 

275  T  2 


The   Book  of  Witches 

somewhat  bigger  than  the  first, ,  but  as  Black 
as  a  Cole.  Its  motions  werr,  quicker  than 
those  of  his  ax;  it  flew  at  his  Belly  and 
away;  then  at  his  Throat  and  over  his 
Shoulder  one  way  and  then  over  his  Shoul- 
der another.  His  heart  now  began  to  fail 
him  and  he  thought  the  Dog  would  have  tore  his 
Throat  out.  But  he  recovered  himself  and  called 
upon  God  in  his  Distress;  and  naming  the  Name 
of  Jesus  Christ,  it  vanished  away  at  once.  The 
Deponent  spoke  not  one  word  of  these  accidents 
for  fear  of  affrighting  his  wife.  But  the  next 
morning  Edmund  Eliot  going  into  Martin's  house, 
this  woman  asked  him  where  Kembal  was?  He 
Repiyed,  'At  home  abed  for  aught  he  knew.'  She 
returned,  '  They  say  he  was  frighted  last  night.' 
Eliot  asked,  '  With  what?  '  She  answered, 
'  With  Puppies.'  Eliot  asked  when  she  heard  of 
it,  for  he  had  heard  nothing  of  it;  she  rejoined, 
'  About  the  Town  ' ;  altho'  Kembal  had  men- 
tioned the  Matter  to  no  creature  Living." 

Susanna  could  do  nothing  against  such  evidence 
as  this.  She  was  found  "  Guilty  "  and  executed 
on  July  19th. 

In  sixteen  months  nineteen  persons  were 
hanged,  one  (Giles  Corry)  was  pressed  to  death 
and  eight  more  were  condemned.  More  than  fifty 
confessed  themselves  to  be  witches,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  were  in  prison  and  two  hundred  others 
were  accused.     But  people  were  growing  weary; 

276 


Other  Persecutions 

and  it  was  thought  time  to  cease  the  persecutions. 
By  about  April,  1693,  all  those  imprisoned  were 
set  at  liberty,  and  others  who  had  fled  the  country 
were  allowed  to  return  home.  It  is  a  striking 
comment  that  Mr.  Parris,  in  whose  house  the  sup- 
posed witchcrafts  had  begun,  was  accused  by  his 
congregation  "  that  he  hath  been  the  beginner  and 
procurer  of  the  sorest  afflictions,  not  to  thi^ 
village  only,  but  to  this  whole  country  that  did 
ever  befall  them,"  and  he  was  dismissed. 


277 


CHAPTER  XIV 

PHILTRES,  CHARMS  AND  POTIONS 

Were  it  not  that  dogs  and  horses  have  frequently 
been  observed  to  express  their  fear  of  ghosts,  an 
apt  definition  for  man  would  be  "  the  supersti- 
tious animal."  Certainly  no  human  feeling  is 
more  universal  or  more  enduring.  If,  as  I  have 
endeavoured  to  prove,  the  first  mother  was  the 
first  witch,  she  must  have  brought  superstition  with 
her  as  a  legacy  from  the  unknown  world.  Not 
only  is  it  universal  in  mankind,  it  is  also  essential 
to  mankind,  if  only  that  it  is  the  one  barrier  be- 
tween them  and  the  tyranny  of  fact.  As  many- 
headed  as  a  Hydra,  it  is  to  be  found  in  one  form 
or  other,  in  the  composition  of  every  human  being, 
from  the  sage  to  the  savage.  Dr.  Johnson's 
idiosyncrasy  for  touching  every  post  he  passed 
upon  his  walks  abroad.  Napoleon's  belief  in  his 
star,  the  burglar's  faith  in  his  lump  of  coal  as  his 
surest  safeguard  against  discovery,  and  the  bunch 
of  bells  which  every  Italian  waggoner  hangs  about 
his  team  to  scare  away  errant  demons,  are  all  alike 
variations  upon  the  one   theme— humanity's  re- 

278 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

volt  against  the  tyranny  of  knowledge.  Our 
boasted  education  avails  nothing  against  the  rock 
upon  which  superstition  is  securely  based.  The 
Girton  girl  who  wears  a  bracelet  hung  with  lucky- 
pigs,  or  rejoices  when  she  finds  white  heather 
growing  upon  a  brae-side,  may  not  perhaps  con- 
sciously accept  them  as  capable  of  influencing  her 
fortunes,  any  more  than  does  the  card-player  be- 
lieve with  his  head  that  if  he  wins  when  not  playing 
for  money  that  his  next  gamble  will  result  in  loss, 
or  the  race-course  punter  that  a  horse  whose  name 
includes  some  particular  word  such  as  gold,  or 
love,  or  black  will,  for  that  reason,  win  races. 
But  all  alike  have  in  their  hearts  this  unexpressed 
belief,  and  though  they  may  not  admit  it,  does  any 
unexpected  good  fortune  befall  them,  their  mascot 
has  some  share  of  their  thanks.  Few  of  us  but 
hold  that  a  certain  colour,  as,  for  instance,  green, 
or  a  certain  stone,  as  the  opal,  is  unlucky.  Many 
of  us  would  not  pass  under  a  ladder  if  we  could 
help  it,  even  though  we  know  that  we  are  thus  up- 
holding a  superstition  based  upon  a  former  con- 
nection between  a  ladder  and  a  gallows.  In 
Paris,  fashionable  people  carry  little  images  of 
their  special  friends  and  in  case  of  their  illness 
mutter  prayers  or  charms  over  the  part  affected. 
Indeed,  those  who  protest  most  strongly  their 
freedom  from  such  degrading  weakness  thereby 
show  themselves  the  more  believing — he  who 
resolutely  walks  under  every  ladder  he  passes  as 

279 


The  Book  of  Witches 

a  mute  protest  is  but  acknowledging  the  faith  he 
seeks  to  outrage. 

All  these  modern  forms  of  civilised  supersti- 
tion are,  of  course,  survivals  from  a  former  age. 
Some  of  them,  as,  for  instance,  that  of  spilling 
salt  or  sitting  thirteen  at  table,  can  be  traced  back 
to  religious  or  other  sources.  Others,  again, 
have  endured  from  the  earliest  days  of  the  human 
race.  Many  directly  emanate  from  the  art  of 
witchcraft.  A  full-fledged  witch  must  have  her 
regular  recipes  and  prescriptions — the  first  witch 
as  much  as  the  last.  With  the  genius  that  made 
her  a  witch,  she  must  seize  and  formulate  the 
shadowy  conceptions  that  form  so  large  a  share 
of  her  clientele's  beliefs;  with  her  power  of 
organisation,  she  must  elaborate  and  adapt  them 
to  individual  needs;  in  answer  to  the  primitive 
appeal,  she  must  return  the  full-fledged  spell  or 
charm.  As  we  have  seen,  her  magical  powers 
were  exercised  in  various  directions ;  her  methods 
were  consequently  as  variant.  In  her  capacity  as 
healer,  and  conversely  as  disease-inflicter,  her 
various  spells  must  cover  all  the  ills  that  flesh 
is  heir  to.  She  must  be  able  to  cure  the  disease 
she  inflicts;  more,  those  who  combat  her  must 
have  their  own  ammunition  of  the  like  kind.  To 
the  Greek  Abracadabra  the  Church  must  oppose 
the  sign  of  the  Cross  or  the  mention  of  the 
Trinity.  Thus  in  time  arose  an  enormous  store 
of   such   early  methods   of    faith   cure — a   store 

280 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

which  has  since  accumulated  to  such  vast  pro- 
portions as  make  it  hopeless  to  do  more  than 
enumerate  a  few  gleaned  from  various  ages  and 
countries  as  examples  of  the  rest. 

A  great  number  of  these  charms  are  given  by 
Wierus,  who  is  severely  reprobated  by  Bodin  for 
propagating  such  iniquities.  Toothache  being  a 
common  and  distracting  complaint,  there  were 
various  recipes  for  its  cure.  To  repeat  the  fol- 
lowing was  found  to  be  very  efficacious  : — 

Galbes,  Galbat,  Galdes,  Galdat. 

Or  it  was  equally  good  to  write  the  following  on 
a  piece  of  paper,  and  then  to  hang  it  round  your 
neck  : — 

Strig-iles,  falcesque,  dentatae. 

Dentium,  dolorem  persanate. 

Another  and  more  religious  means  was  to  quote 
John,  ch.  ix.,  concerning  the  curse  of  the  blind 
man,  and  Exodus,  ch.  xii.,  where  it  is  written  that 
no  bone  of  the  Passover  shall  be  broken;  and 
then  to  touch  your  teeth  during  Mass,  by  which 
time  it  was  more  than  probable  that  your  pains 
should  cease.  Ague,  another  common  complaint, 
had  several  remedies.  You  might  either  write 
Abracadabra  triangularly  and  hang  it  round  your 
neck,  or  visit  at  dead  of  night  the  nearest  cross- 
road five  different  times,  and  there  bury  a  new- 
laid  egg  (this  has  never  been  known  to  fail),  or 

28i 


The  Book  of  Witches 

emulate  Ashmole,  the  astrologer,  who  wrote  in 
1661  :— 

I  took  early  in  the  morning  a  good  dose  of  elixir  and 
hung  three  spiders  about  my  neck;  they  drove  my  ague 
away. 

Against  mad-dog  bite  there  were  more  com- 
plicated methods  than  mere  Pasteurisation,  and 
what  is  more,  you  had  a  large  choice.  A  cure  was 
effected  by  writing  on  a  piece  of  bread  the 
words  : — 

Irioni  Khiriori  effera  Kuder  fere. 

then  swallowing  it ;   or  writing  on  a  piece  of  paper 
or  bread  the  words  : — ■ 

Oh,  King  of  Glory,  Jesus  Christ,  come  in  peace  in  the 
name  of  the  Father  +  max  in  the  name  of  the  Son  + 
max  in  the  name  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  prax,  Caspar,  Mel- 
chior,  Balthasar  +  prax  +  max  +  God  imax  +  . 

Some  people  were  known  to  have  been  cured 
by  a  man  who  wrote 

Hax,  pax,  max,  Deus  adimax 

on  an  apple,  which  he  gave  the  patient  to  eat; 
but  this,  says  Wierus,  was  very  impious. 

According  to  Cato,  bones  out  of  joint  could  be 
put  back  into  place  by  the  charm  : — 

Danata,  daries,  dardaries,   astataries. 

Divers  were  but  little  distinguished  from  one 
another,  and  we  find  a  number  of  cures  for  fevers 

282 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

included  under  one  generic  form.     Several  cures 
are  given  by  Wierus  : — 

Wash  your  hands  with  the  patient  and  say  Psalm  144. 
"  Exaltabo  te,  Deus  meus  Rex." 

Or:— 

Take  the  invalid's  hand  and  say  *'  Acque  facilis  tibi 
febris  haec  fit,  atque  Mariae  Virg^ini  Christi  partus." 

Or:— 

Take  three  holy  wafers,  and  write  on  the  first,  "  So  is 
the  Father,  so  is  Life  "  ;  on  the  second,  "  So  is  the  Son,  so 
is  the  Saint  " ;  on  the  third,  "So  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  is 
the  remedy."  Take  these  three  wafers  to  the  fever 
patient  and  tell  him  to  eat  them  on  three  consecutive  days, 
neither  eating  nor  drinking  anything  else ;  also  say  fifteen 
times  daily  the  Pater  and  the  Ave. 

A  similar  prescription  is  found  in  the  follow- 
ing :— 

Cut  an  apple  in  three  places  and  write  on  the  first,  '*  In- 
creatus  Pater";  on  the  second,  *' Immensus  Pater"; 
and  on  the  third,  '*  Aeternus  Pater  ";  then  let  the  patient 
eat  them  fasting  on  three  different  days. 

The  following  savours  little  less  of  religion  : — 

For  fever  wryt  thys  words  on  a  lorell  lef  +  Ysmael 
+  Ysmael  +  adjuro  vos  per  angelum  ut  soporetur  iste 
Homo.  And  ley  thys  lef  under  hys  head  that  he  mete  not 
thereof  and  let  hym  ete  Letuse  oft  and  drynk  Ip'e  seed 
smal  grounden  in  a  mortar  and  temper  yt  with  ale. 

283 


The   Book  of  Witches 

A  cure  for  epilepsy  was  contained  in  the 
following  words  : — 

Gaspare  fert  myrrham,  thus  Melchior,  Balthasar  aurum 
Haec  tria  cui  secum  portabit  nomina  regum 
Soluitur  a  morbo  Christi  pietate  caduco. 

Another  remedy  was  to  take  the  hand  of  the 
patient  and  say  in  his  ear : — 

I  conjure  you  by  the  Sun,  the  Moon,  the  Gospel  of  the 
Day,  given  of  God  to  Saint  Hubert,  Gilles,  Corneille  and 
Jein,  that  you  get  up  without  falling  again,  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  the  Sonn  and  the  Holy  Ghost.    Amen. 

For  the  cure  of  headache  Pliny  recommends  a 
plant  growing  on  the  head  of  a  statue  (i.e.,  that  has 
never  touched  the  ground),  gathered  in  the  lappet 
of  any  one  of  the  garments,  and  attached  to  the 
neck  with  a  red  string. 

Against  the  King's  Evil,  vervaine,  plucked 
with  the  root,  wrapped  in  a  leaf,  and  warmed  under 
cinders,  was  considered  efficacious.  This  might 
at  first  sight  seem  to  differ  little  in  character  from 
a  medical  prescription,  whether  useless  or  no,  but 
to  be  efficacious  certain  conditions  must  be  com- 
plied with.  It  must  be  applied,  that  is  to  say, 
by  a  young  and  fasting  virgin,  and  the  patient 
must  receive  it  fasting.  While  touching  his  hand 
the  virgin  must  say,  "  Apollo,  let  not  the  plague 
increase  which  a  virgin  has  allayed."  And  there- 
after she  must  spit  three  times. 

Pliny  also  provides  us  with  a  recipe  against 
284 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

accidents  in  general,  originally  taken  from  the 
Druids  of  Gaul : — "  Carry  about  your  person  the 
plant  '  selago/  gathered  without  the  use  of  iron 
and  with  the  right  hand  passed  through  the  left 
sleeve  of  the  tunic,  as  though  committing  a  theft. 
When  you  gather  it  your  clothing  must  be  white, 
your  feet  bare  and  clean,  while  a  sacrifice  of  bread 
and  wine  must  be  offered  previously." 

There  were  also  many  specific  cures  for  dif- 
ferent accidents.  An  incantation  for  thorn-pricks 
is  found  in  the  recorded  case  of  one  Mr.  Smer- 
don  : — "  When  our  Saviour  Christ  was  on  earth 
He  pricked  His  forefinger  on  the  right  hand  with 
a  black  thorn,  or  whatever  it  may  be,  and  the 
Blood  sprang  up  to  Heaven,  nor  moath,  nor  rust, 
nor  canker  did  corrupt,  and  if  Mr.  Smerdon  will 
put  his  trust  in  God  his  will  do  the  same.  In  the 
name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."  This  is  to  be  repeated  three  times, 
and  at  the  end  Amen  and  the  Lord's  Prayer  are 
to  be  said. 

A  once-popular  "  prayer  "  for  a  "  scalt  "  is  the 
following  : — 

Their  was  two  angels  came  from  the  East.  One  carried 
Fire,  the  other  carried  Frost.  Out  Fire.  In  Frost. 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 

A  more  modern  version  runs  thus  : — 

There  were  three  Angels  came  from  East  and  West, 
One  brought  Fire  and  another  brought  Frost, 

285 


The  Book  of  Witches 

And  the  Third  it  was  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Out    Fire.     In   Frost,   &c.,    &c. 

A  simple  way  of  extracting  an  arrow  is  : — 

Say  three  times,  while  kneeling-,  the  Pater  and  Ave, 
and  then  +  add  these  words: — "A  Jewish  soldier  evilly 
indined  struck  Jesus  Christ  +  Lord  Jesus  Christ  I  pray 
Thee  +  by  this  iron  +  by  this  lance  +  by  this  blood  +  and  by 
this  water,  draw  out  this  iron  +  in  the  name,  &c.,  &c. 

There  are  several  charms  useful  for  stanch- 
ing blood.     One  runs  : — 

Jesus  that  was  in  Bethlehem  born  and  baptized  was  in 
the  flumen  Jordane,  as  stinte  the  water  at  hys  comyng-,  so 
stinte  the  blood  of  thys  Man  N.  thy  servaunt  throw  the 
vertu  of  Thy  Holy  Name. — Jesu — and  of  Thy  cosyn  swete 
Saint  Jon.  And  sey  thys  charme  fyve  tymes,  with  fyve 
Paternosters  in  the  worschip  of  the  fyve  woundys. 

Another  runs  : — 

In  nomine  Patris  et  Filii  et  Spiritus  Sancti,  carat,  Cara, 
sarite,  confirma  oonsana  imabolite. 

And  another : — 

Sepa  +  sepag-a  +  sepagoga  +  Blood  cease  to  flow.  All  is 
consummated  in  the  Name  of  the  Father  +  podendi  +  and 
of  the  son  +  pandera  +  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit +  pandorica 
+  peace  be  with  you.   Amen. 

The  following  simple  charm  may  be  found 
efficacious  against  the  assaults  of  stinging- 
nettles  : — 

Nettle  in,  Dock  out, 
Dock  in.  Nettle  out, 
Nettle  in,  Dock  out. 
Dock  rub,  Nettle  outi 
286 


Philtres,  Charms,  and  Potions 

The  famous  Nothhemd,  or  "  chemise  de  neces- 
site,''  had  such  magical  qualities  that  it  was  worn 
alike  by  men  to  protect  them  against  arrows  and 
other  weapons  in  battle,  and  by  women  to  assist 
them  in  their  delivery.  It  was  spun  by  virgins 
upon  a  night  in  Christmas  week.  On  the  breast 
were  two  heads :  on  the  right  side  that  of 
a  bearded  man  wearing  a  morion,  that  on  the  left 
being  hideously  ugly  and  having  a  crown  like 
that  of  Beelzebub.  By  a  curious  confusion  of 
thought,  a  cross  was  placed  on  either  side  of  these 
heads. 

From  spells  and  charms  against  disease  and 
accident  we  may  turn  to  those  intended  to  protect 
against  injury  from  outside  agencies,  as,  for 
example,  caterpillars,  serpents,  and  particularly 
thieves. 

Were  your  cabbages  or  roses  suffering  from 
the  over-attentive  caterpillar  you  had  no  need  to 
approach  the  chemist  for  a  remedy.  In  Thur- 
ingia,  for  example,  they  might  be  banished  from 
the  cabbage-patch  if  a  woman  could  be  found  to 
run  naked  round  the  field  or  garden  before  sun- 
rise on  the  day  of  the  annual  fair.  In  Cleves  it 
was  sufficient  to  say : — "  Beloved  caterpillar,  this 
meat  that  you  are  having  in  the  autumn  profits 
you  as  little  as  it  profits  the  Virgin  Mary  when, 
in  eating  and  drinking,  people  do  not  speak  of 
Jesus  Christ.     In  the  name  of  God.     Amen." 

Yet  another  infallible  cure  was  to  pick  a  switch 
287 


The  Book  of  Witches 

in  the  neighbourhood  of  an  adulterer's  house,  or, 
by  a  curious  contrast,  that  of  an  upright  magis- 
trate, and  to  strike  with  it  the  infected  cabbages. 
Provided  you  walk  straight  through  and  across 
the  cabbage-bed,  the  caterpillars  will  faint  and 
fall  away,  but  if  you  turn  round  you  lose  all 
chance  of  getting  rid  of  them. 

A  good  way  of  exterminating  serpents,  toads, 
lizards,  and  other  vermin  was  to  obtain  a  supply 
of  the  herb  called  "  serpentine."  When  making 
use  of  it  you  must  draw  three  rings  on  the  earth, 
and  say: — In  nomine  Patris  an  +  et  Filii  elion  + 
et  Spiritus  sancti  tedion+ Pater  Noster."  Then 
say  three  times : — "  Super  aspidem  et  basilicum 
ambulabis  et  conculcabis  leonem  et  draconem." 

The  numerous  aids  towards  discovering 
thieves  seem  to  indicate  that  the  difficulty 
of  distinguishing  between  meum  and  tuum 
is  of  no  modern  growth.  Many  religious  for- 
mulae were,  of  course,  pressed  into  the  detective 
service,  perhaps  the  most  famous  being  the  curse 
of  Saint  Adalbert.  Such  value  was  placed  upon 
it  that  the  Church  only  permitted  its  employment 
with  the  licence  of  the  Bishop  under  pain  of  ex- 
communication. It  is  of  interminable  length, 
and  commences  as  follows : — "  In  the  au- 
thority of  all-powerful  God,  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost  and  of  the  Holy  Virgin  Mary, 
mother  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  of  the  holy 
angels  and  archangels,  and  of  Saint  Michael  and 

288 


Philtres,   Charms  and  Potions 

of  John  the  Baptist,  in  the  name  of  the  apostle 
Saint  Peter  and  of  the  other  apostles,  of  Saint 
Sylvester,  Saint  Adalbert,  and  of  all  Confessors, 
of  Saint  Aldegonde,  of  holy  virgins,  of  all  the 
saints  which  are  in  Heaven  and  on  the  earth  to 
whom  power  is  given  to  bind  and  unbind,  we  ex- 
communicate, damn,  curse,  and  anathematise  and 
forbid  the  entrance  into  Holy  Mother  Church 
of  these  thieves,  '  sacrilegists,'  ravishers,  their  com- 
panions, coadjutors,  and  coadjutrices  who  have 
committed  this  theft,  or  who  have  taken  any  part 
in  it,"  &c.,  &c. 

Another  method  combines  an  invocation  with 
the  use  of  a  crystal : — 

Turn  towards  the  East,  make  a  cross  above  the  crystal 
with  olive  oil,  and  write  the  name  of  Saint  Helen  below 
this  cross.  Then  a  young  boy  of  legitimate  birth  must 
take  the  crystal  in  his  right  hand,  while  you  kneel  down 
behind  him  and  say  three  times  devoutly,  "  I  pray  you, 
holy,  Lady  Helen,  mother  of  King  Constantine,  who  have 
found  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  in  the 
name  and  favour  of  this  very  holy  devotion  and  invention 
of  the  cross  ;  in  the  name  of  this  very  holy  cross ;  in  favour 
of  this  joy  that  you  experienced  when  you  found  this  very 
holy  cross ;  in  consideration  of  the  great  love  you  bore 
your  son.  King  Constantine;  in  short,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  good  things  you  enjoy  for  ever,  may  it  please  you  to 
show  in  this  crystal  what  I  ask  and  am  longing  to  know." 
Then  the  boy  will  see  the  angel  in  the  crystal,  and  you 
will  ask  what  you  want,  and  the  angel  will  reply.  This 
should  be  done  at  sunrise  and  when  the  sun  has 
risen. 

289  U 


The  Book  of  Witches 

A  simpler  and  more  homely  means  runs 
thus :; — 

Go  to  a  running  river,  a^d  take  as  many  little  pebbles 
as  there  are  suspected  people.  Carry  them  to  your  house 
and  make  them  red-hot;  bury  them  under  the  threshold 
over  which  you  most  commonly  pass  into  the  house,  and 
leave  them  there  three  days.  Then  dig  them  up  when  the 
sun  is  up,  then  put  a  bowl  of  water  in  the  middle  of  the 
circle  in  which  there  is  a  cross,  having  written  upon  it : 
'  *  Christus  vicit,  Christus  regnat,  Christus  imperat. ' ' 
The  bowl  having  been  set  and  signed  with  the  cross,  with 
a  conjuration  by  the  passion  of  Christ,  by  his  death  and 
resurrection,  &c. ,  throw  the  pebbles  one  after  the  other  in 
the  water,  each  one  in  the  name  of  the  suspects,  and 
when  you  come  to  the  pebble  of  the  thief,  it  will  make 
the  water  boil. 

Wierus  sagely  adds  the  comment  that  it  is  not 
"  difficult  for  the  Devil  to  make  the  water  boil  in 
order  to  convict  the  innocent." 

A  means  of  getting  a  little  private  revenge  upon 
the  thief  or  the  witch,  even  if  the  harm  they  have 
done  you  has  ceased,  is  as  follows  : — 

Cut  on  Saturday  morning,  before  sunrise,  a  branch  of 
nut-tree  a  year  old,  saying,  *'I  cut  you,  branch  of  this 
summer,  in  the  name  of  him  whom  I  mean  to  strike  or 
mutilate."  Having  done  that,  put  a  cloth  on  the  table 
saying,  '*  In  nomine  Patris  +  et  FiHi  +  et  spiritus  sancti. " 
Say  this  three  times  with  the  following,  "  Et  incute  droch, 
myrroch,  esenaroth,  +  betu  +  baroch  +  ass  +  maarot. " 
Then  say  *'  Holy  Trinity  punish  him  who  has  harmed  me, 
and  take  away  the  harm  by  your  great  justice +  eson 
elion  +  emaris  ales  age  ";   then  strike  the  cloth. 

290 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

The  numerous  proverbs  dealing  with  the  tender 
passion  seem  to  imply  that  it  is  inclined  to  go 
by  contraries,  which  perhaps  accounts  for  the  par- 
ticular nastiness  of  the  ingredients  composing 
love-philtres.  Another  constant  feature  is  that 
they  are  all  double-edged,  so  that  the  slightest 
deviation  from  the  prescribed  course  may  turn 
love  into  hate,  or  vice  versa,  and  thus  bring 
about  a  catastrophe,  whereby,  doubtless,  hang 
several  morals.  The  "  louppe  "  of  a  colt  is  a 
powerful  philtre.  It  must  be  ground  to  powder 
and  drunk  with  the  blood  of  the  beloved.  Other 
specific  means  are  the  hair  on  the  end  of  a  wolf's 
tail,  the  brain  of  a  cat  and  of  a  lizard,  certain  kinds 
of  serpents  and  fish,  and  the  bones  of  green  frogs 
which  have  been  eaten  inside  an  ant-heap.  The 
frogs'  bones  must  be  treated  thus  : — "  Throw  the 
bones  into  water,  so  that  one  part  floats  above 
water  and  the  other  sinks  to  the  bottom.  Wrap 
them  in  silk,  and  hang  them  round  your  neck,  and 
you  will  be  loved;  but  if  you  touch  a  man  with 
them,  hate  will  come  of  it." 

Another  prescription  hard  to  equal  runs 
thus  : — 

Take  all  the  young  swallows  from  one  nest;  put  them 
into  a  pot,  and  bury  them  until  they  are  dead  of  hunger. 
Those  which  are  found  dead  with  open  beaks  will  excite 
love,  and  those  with  closed  beaks  will  bring  hatred. 

If  two  people  hate  each  other,  write  the  fol- 
lowing words,  "  Abrac,  amon,  filon,"  on  a  con- 

291  u  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

secrated  wafer,  and  if  it  be  given  them  to  eat 
they  will  always  be  friends. 

The  use  of  images  to  work  death  and  destruc- 
tion upon  your  enemies  has  been  the  subject  of 
tales  from  time  immemorial.  Some  kinds  of 
images  are,  of  course,  much  more  deadly  than 
others,  according  to  their  differences  of  construc- 
tion; and  whereas  some  may  only  subject  the 
victim  to  great  discomfort,  others  have  far  more 
awful  results..  In  any  case,  a  victim  will  do  well 
to  take  every  means  of  discovering  his  enemy 
should  he  suffer  such  pains  for  which  he  can  in 
no  wise  account.  Happier  still  is  he  who  gives 
no  provocation  for  the  use  of  this  deadly  and 
secret  means  of  vengeance. 

Images  were  sometimes  made  of  brass  or  the 
dust  of  a  dead  man,  as  well  as  of  wax.  The 
limbs  were  often  interchanged  and  inverted,  a 
hand  being  in  place  of  a  foot,  and  vice  versa. 
The  head  was  also  turned  backwards.  The  worst 
kind  was  given  the  form  of  a  man  with  a  certain 
name — Wierus  hesitates  to  give  it — written  above 
the  head  and  the  magic  words,  "  AHf,  lafeil, 
Zazahit  mel  meltat  leuatam  leutare,"  then  it  should 
be  buried  in  a  sepulchre. 

Reginald  Scot  gives  the  following  variation  : — 

Make  an  image  in  his  name  whom  you  would  hurt  or 
kill,  of  new  virgine  wax;  under  the  right  arme  poke 
whereof  a  swallowes  hart,  and  the  liver  under  the  left; 
then  hang  about  the  neck  thereof  a  new  thread  in  a  new 

292 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

needle,  pricked  into  the  member  which  you  would  have 
hurt,  with  the  rehearsalle  of  certain  words  (which  for  the 
avoiding  of  superstition   are  omitted). 

This  was  probably  taken  straight  from  Wierus' 
book,  with  which  it  corresponds  almost  exactly, 
and  the  following  instructions  are,  with  some 
changes  in  the  magic  words,  identical  with  those 
given  above.  This  does  not,  however,  by  any 
means  exhaust  Wierus'  list,  as  will  be  seen  by  the 
following  : — 

Take  two  images,  one  of  wax  and  the  other  of  the 
dust  of  a  dead  man.  Put  an  iron,  which  could  ca;use  the 
death  of  a  man,  into  the  hand  of  one  of  the  figures,  so 
that  it  may  pierce  the  head  of  the  image  which  represents 
the  person  whose  death  you  desire. 

Charms  for  taciturnity  under  torture,  or  against 
feeling  the  pangs  of  torture  itself,  were  obviously 
very  freely  bestowed  by  Satan  upon  his  servants. 
As  an  enlightened  and  advanced  thinker  Wierus 
remarks  that  the  merit  of  the  spells  does  not  lie 
in  the  words  which  compose  them,  but  is  merely 
a  piece  of  DeviFs  work.  One  of  these  spells 
against  the  torture  runs  thus  : — 

To  three  unequal  branches,  three  bodies  are  hung, 
Dismas,  Gestas,  et  Divina  potestas,  which  is  in  the 
middle.  Dismas  is  condemned,  and  Gestas  has  flown  to 
Heaven. 

Scot's  version  of  this  is  : — 

Three  bodies  on  a  bough  doo  hang, 
For  merits  of  inequalitie. 

293 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Dismas  and  Gestas,  in  the  midst 
The  power  of  the  Divinitie. 
Dismas  is  damned,  but  Gestas  lifted  up 
Above  the  starres  on  hie. 

Paul  Grilland,  a  jurisconsult,  tells  a  story  of 
a  thief  who  had  concealed  in  his  hair  a  little  paper 
on  which  he  had  written,  "  + Jesus  autem  +  tran- 
siens  +  per  medium  illorum  ibat  +  os  non  com- 
minuitis  ex  eo-f."  He  was  marked  with  the 
cross,  and  was  thus  immune  from  torture. 

Much  of  this  is,  of  course,  mere  gibberish,  in 
which  the  original  idea  may  or  may  not  be  trace- 
able. The  divorce  of  the  sense  from  the  words  gra- 
dually led  people  to  believe  that  the  words  them- 
selves contained  peculiar  merit,  and  that  absurd 
reiteration  of  meaningless  sounds  sufficed  to  give 
them  their  heart's  desire.  This  attitude  accounts, 
of  course,  for  the  many  spells  which  recall  the 
patter  song  in  character.  Their  main  feature 
consists  in  the  repetition  or  rhyming  of  certain 
syllables,  as  in  the  cure  of  toothache,  "  Galbas 
galbat,  galdes,  galdat  " ;  or  against  mad-dog 
bite,  "  Irioni  Khiriori  effera  Kuder  fere."  This 
characteristic  doubtless  made  them  easy  to  re- 
member, while  the  confusion  of  meaning  no  doubt 
added  to  their  value  in  the  eyes  of  the  faithful. 
Witches,  too,  were  probably  as  susceptible  to  the 
fascination  of  jingle  and  alliteration  as  is  the 
poet  of  to-day. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  that  religion  and 
magic  are  curiously  mingled  in  many  of  the  spells 

294 


Philtres,   Charms  and  Potions 

— Wierus,  indeed,  states  specially  that  numbers 
of  those  given  by  him  were  taken  secretly  from 
the  book  of  a  priest.  By  degrees,  however,  they 
became  so  much  used  and  altered  that  the  witch 
herself  might  frequently  use  spells  which  had 
originally  been  formulated  by  the  Church.  There 
are,  of  course,  spells  against  the  witch  herself.  A 
preventive  against  witchcraft  was  to  carry  a 
Bible  or  Prayer-book;  mistletoe,  four-leaved 
clover,  and  a  rowan  that  is  found  growing  out  of 
the  top  of  another  tree,  are  esteemed  exceedingly 
effective.  In  Mecklenburg,  herbs  which  protect 
people  against  witches  are  gathered  on  mid- 
summer night.  "If  you  wish  to  hang  a  witch  by 
the  hair,"  says  Wierus,  "take  an  effigy  made  of 
the  dust  of  a  dead  man's  head,  and  baptise  it  by 
the  name  of  the  person  you  wish  to  hang,  perfume 
it  with  an  evil-smelling  bone,  and  read  backwards 
the  words: — '  Domine,  dominus  noster;  dominus 
illuminatio  mea ;  domine  exaudi  orationem  meam ; 
Deus  laudem  meam  ne  tacueris.'  Then  bury  it  in 
two  different  places."  If  you  meet  a  witch  you 
should  take  the  wall  of  her  in  town  or  street, 
and  the  right  hand  of  her  in  lane  or  field,  and 
when  passing  you  should  clench  both  hands, 
doubling  the  thumbs  beneath  the  fingers.  Salute 
her  civilly  before  she  speaks  to  you,  and  on  no 
account  take  any  present  from  her.  Finally,  the 
dried  muzzle  of  a  wolf  is  recommended  by  Pliny 
as  efficacious  against  enchantments. 

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The  Book  of  Witches 

Certain  stones  and  vegetables  were  part  of  the 
stock-in-trade  of  the  witch  or  wizard.  The  power 
of  mandragore  as  a  philtre  was  unequalled  5 
cinquefoil  was  used  for  purification;  while  olive 
branches  are  so  pure  that  if  planted  by  a  rake  they 
will  be  barren  or  die.  Jasper  is  powerful  against 
apparitions,  and  coral,  worn  by  infants  or  mounted 
in  bracelets,  protects  against  charms.  Perfume 
made  of  peewits'  feathers  drives  away  phantoms; 
antirrhinum  worn  in  a  bracelet  ensures  against 
poison ;  a  lemon  stuck  full  of  gaily-coloured  pins, 
amongst  which  are  no  black  ones,  brings  good 
luck;  while  the  horseshoe  has  long  been  used  for 
the  same  purpose.  Against  chafing  of  the  thigh 
while  riding  Pliny  recommends  that  a  sprig  of 
poplar  should  be  carried  in  the  hand. 

On  the  whole,  the  means  of  enchantment  were 
very  easily  procured,  and  they  were  generally 
most  efficacious  when  most  nasty.  While  some 
of  them,  such  as  hellebore,  which  secured  bene- 
ficial rest,  had  real  medicinal  value,  others  were 
adopted  for  some  trivial  reason  of  growth,  form, 
or  time  of  year.  As  much  stress  was  laid  on  the 
words  that  accompanied  them  as  on  a  doctor's 
prescription,  and  the  strength  of  the  appeal  to  the 
imagination  was  only  equalled  by  the  openness 
of  the  imagination  to  that  appeal. 

One  other  point  is  to  be  remembered  ere  we 
close  the  chapter :  that  these  charms  and  philtres 
very  often  served  their  purpose.     Though  there 

296 


Philtres,  Charms  and  Potions 

may  have  been  little  value  for  thief  taking  in  the 
monotonous  repetition  of  a  meaningless  jingle,  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  it  would  be  equally 
useless  in  the  cure  of,  say,  toothache.  Only  get 
your  patient  to  believe,  or  believe  yourself,  that 
the  pain  is  on  the  point  of  vanishing  and — but 
are  not  Faith  Healers  and  Christian  Scientists  a 
power  in  the  land  to-day.  So,  again,  if  a  young 
woman  should  get  to  hear  that  a  young  man  was 
so  impressed  by  her  charms  as  to  seek  diabolical 
assistance  in  gaining  her  smiles,  he  would  in  all 
probability  assume  a  position  in  her  thoughts  more 
prominent  than  that  held  by  his  rivals — ^with  a 
possible  sequel  in  matrimony.  Let  us  laugh  at 
the  folly  of  our  forefathers  by  all  means — no 
doubt  they  set  us  the  example — but  it  does  not 
therefore  follow  that  our  means  to  an  end  are 
always  the  more  efficacious  through  being 
presumably  more  sensible. 


297 


CHAPTER    XV 

THE   WITCH  IN  FICTION 

To  those  who  deny  the  existence  of  the  witch  in 
fact,  any  mention  of  the  witch  in  fiction  as  a 
separate  entity  may  seem  superfluous.  Never- 
theless even  the  enlightened  must  admit  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  witch  as  she  appeared  to 
Bodin  or  Pierre  de  Lancre  and  the  "very  repul- 
sive-looking old  witch  whose  underlip  hung 
down  to  her  chin  "  of  Hans  Andersen's  "  Tinder- 
box."  Indeed,  this  latter  can  scarcely  be  con- 
sidered a  witch  at  all  in  the  true  sense  of  the 
word,  seeing  that  despite  her  underlip  she  seems 
to  have  had  no  occult  powers  of  her  own,  except, 
indeed,  that  her  checked  apron  had  the  faculty  of 
quieting  savage  dogs.  For  the  rest,  though,  she 
seems  to  have  been  entirely  dependent  upon  the 
old  tinder-box  left  by  her  grandmother  under- 
ground, and  of  which  she  sent  the  soldier  in 
search.  The  only  detail,  indeed,  wherein  she 
resembled  the  more  orthodox  witch  of  history  was 
that  when  the  soldier  cut  off  her  head  without  any 
provocation  whatever,  he  not  only  incurred  no 
blame,  but  even  thereby  paved  his  way  to  marry- 

298 


The  Witch  in  Fiction 

ing  a  king's  daughter — a  moral  such  as  would 
certainly  have  appealed  to  Mathew  Hopkins. 
Again,  the  wicked  stepmother  of  "  Snowwhite  " 
in  Grimm's  story  of  that  name,  although  regarded 
as  a  witch  and  in  the  end  suffering  appropriate 
punishment  for  her  crimes,  has  no  more  claim  to 
take  her  place  beside  Circe  or  Mother  Damnable 
in  the  pages  of  history  than  is  due  to  the  apparently 
fortuitous  possession  of  a  magic  looking-glass  and 
some  knowledge  of  toxicology. 

The  witch  in  fiction  might  serve  a  more  serious 
purpose  than  does  the  heroine  of  a  problem  novel, 
for  not  only  has  the  perusal  of  her  incredible 
pranks  served  to  enlighten  many  a  weary  hour; 
she  is  also  a  standing  proof  of  the  bona  fides  of 
the  real  personage  upon  whom  she  is  based. 
Just  as  in  fiction,  dealing  with  less  recondite 
characters,  we  find  that  their  doings  are  for  the 
most  part  exaggerated  caricatures  of  the  happen- 
ings of  every-day  life  in  the  real  world,  and  that 
their  potentialities  of  action  are  limited,  not  by 
hard  fact,  but  only  by  the  furthest  bounds  of  the 
novelist's  imagination,  so  the  witch  of  fiction 
caricatures  her  historical  prototype  to  the  point  of 
verging  on  the  incredible.  For  your  real  witch, 
whether  she  be  Diana  or  Mother  Demdyke,  Joan 
of  Arc,  or  the  Witch  of  Endor,  has  always — like 
less  gifted  human  beings — conformed  to  one  of 
several  types,  varying  from  them  only  in  the 
degree  proper  to  human  nature.    Whether  young 

299 


The  Book  of  Witches 

and  beautiful,  or  old  and  repulsive,  whether  hag 
or  heroine,  goddess  or  gude-wife,  she  remains 
constant  to  her  type,  and  has  done  so  from  the 
beginning  of  things.  The  witch  of  fiction,  on 
the  other  hand,  like  the  problematic  heroine,  doth 
as  her  creator  wishes  in  defiance  of  all  laws  of 
possibility.  As  any  inquisitor  could  tell  you,  in 
a  court  of  justice,  once  a  witch  always  a  witch; 
in  the  pages  of  Grimm  a  witch  is  quite  as  likely 
to  be  a  fairy  godmother  or  a  benevolent  old  lady, 
with  a  magic  golden  apple,  or,  for  that  matter, 
a  benevolent  old  lady  pure  and  simple.  Some- 
times, it  is  true,  as  with  characters  in  a  realistic 
novel,  the  witch  of  fiction  may  pass  for  an  impres- 
sionistic study  of  the  real  witch.  Thus  in  the 
famous  story  of  Hansel  and  Gretel  she  is  so  far 
realistic  as  to  desire  the  capture  of  small  children. 
But,  instead  of  acting  thus  in  the  service  and  for 
the  honour  of  her  master  the  Devil,  she  is  moved 
by  no  nobler  impulse  than  the  desire  to  eat  them, 
and  thus  shows  herself  not  a  witch  at  all — for 
your  true  witch  is  always  altruistic — nothing  better, 
indeed,  than  a  greedy  old  cannibal.  Her  methods, 
again,  however  creditable  to  their  inventor,  are 
by  no  means  such  as  would  have  commended 
themselves  to  the  economical  tastes  of  her  Satanic 
employer.  The  real  witch  was  never  yet  provided 
with  the  capital  necessary  to  build  herself  houses 
of  "  sugar  and  spice  and  all  that's  nice  "  either 
as  residence  or  decoy.     She  lived  notoriously  in 

300 


The  Witch  in  Fiction 

hovels — unless,  indeed,  she  had  private  means — 
and  the  profits  of  her  infernal  bargain,  even  when 
she  received  them,  were  never  sufficient  to  provide 
her  with  more  than  the  barest  living.  Grimm's 
cannibal,  with  her  roof  of  chocolate  and  walls  of 
marzipan,  might  have  been  a  sorceress;  she 
certainly  was  no  witch. 

More  realistic,  and  thus  all  the  more  misleading, 
are  the  weird  sisters  in  Macbeth.  Did  we  take 
them  as  representative  types  of  witchdom,  we 
should  be  as  much  deceived  as  were  he  who, 
reading  nothing  but  newspapers,  believed  that 
English  life  was  made  up  of  murders,  divorces, 
political  speeches  and  judicial  witticisms.  They 
give  us,  indeed,  an  excellent  impressionist^  idea 
of  the  witch  as  she  appeared  in  the  public  eye, 
some  valuable  recipes  for  potions,  apt  illustra- 
tions of  divinatory  methods  and  so  forth,  but  no 
suggestion  whatever  of  that  quiet  home  life 
wherein  the  witch,  like  the  British  public,  passed 
most  of  her  existence.  No  doubt  she  occasionally 
took  part  in  social  reunions,  in  caverns  or  on 
blasted  heaths,  with  Hecate  as  the  guest  of  the 
evening;  no  doubt  she  there  interchanged  ideas 
as  to  the  surest  means  of  drowning  sailors  or 
ruining  kingdoms.  But  these  were  only  para- 
graphs in  the  story  of  her  life,  very  much  as  being 
tried  for  murder  or  presented  at  Court  are  out- 
standing incidents  in  the  life-story  of  the  average 
Briton.     For  the  most  part,  she  spent  her  time  in 

301 


The  Book  of  Witches 

the  quiet  seclusion  of  her  hovel,  adding  to  her 
stock  of  every-day  poisons  or  giving  interviews 
to  the  local  peasantry.  Of  this  Shakespeare  tells 
us  nothing;  to  judge  from  the  witches  in  Macbeth 
they  might  have  spent  the  whole  of  their  time 
waiting  about  on  Scottish  moorlands  on  the  chance 
of  making  history. 

Much  nearer  to  the  truth  are  the  lives  of  Mother 
Demdyke,  Mother  Chattox,  and  the  rest  of  the 
"  Lancashire  Witches,"  as  portrayed  for  us  by 
Harrison  Ainsworth.  It  is  true  that  for  purposes 
of  dramatic  effect  the  author  exaggerates  their 
characteristics;  but  such  is  the  privilege  of  the 
historical  novelist.  Nobody  supposes — or  is  ex- 
pected to  suppose — that  the  Queen  Elizabeth  of 
"  The  Faerie  Queene  "  or  the  Richelieu  of  "  Les 
iTrois  Mousquetaires  "  corresponds  in  every 
respect  to  the  historical  personages  for  whom  they 
stand.  In  real  life  Queen  Elizabeth  was  probably 
insufferable,  vain,  ugly,  with  the  bad  temper  that 
comes  from  biliousness  founded  on  a  regime  of 
beer  and  beefsteak  for  breakfast;  Richelieu  an 
imposing  figure  only  because  he  was  successful. 
But  nobody  would  think  of  blaming  Spenser  or 
Dumas  for  having  built  up  an  heroic  edifice  upon 
a  mediocre  foundation ;  had  they  told  us  no  more 
than  the  bare  truth,  they  would  certainly  have 
been  accused  of  falsifying  history,  and,  with  more 
justice,  of  lack  of  literary  artistry.  The  mission 
of   the   historical   novelist,    as   generally   under- 

302 


The  Witch  in  Fiction 

stood,  at  any  rate,  is,  like  that  of  the  scene- 
painter,  to  provide  us  with  the  appropriate  set- 
ting for  figures  bathed  in  conventional  limelight. 
If  he  draws  things  as  they  were  he  fails  in  his  duty 
towards  people  as  they  are.  So  it  is  with  the 
Mother  Demdyke  of  Ainsworth's  imagining.  The 
limelight  is  upon  her  all  the  time.  She  is  con- 
demned to  be  theatrical,  if  she  is  to  be  real ;  her 
destinies  must  be  interwoven  with  those  of  dis- 
possessed abbots,  of  aristocratic  heroes,  and  of 
beautiful  ill-used  heroines.  When  composing  a 
curse,  she  must  never  forget  what  is  expected  of 
her  by  the  world  beyond  the  footlights;  when 
she  interviews  her  master  the  Devil,  such  an  inter- 
view must  always  be  melodramatic.  In  actual 
fact,  we  know  that  when  the  Devil  had  occasion 
to  visit  Lancashire  in  order  to  discuss  business 
projects  with  Mother  Demdyke,  he  did  so  briefly 
and  without  waste  of  words,  for  the  Devil 
is  above  all  else  a  man  of  business.  We 
know,  too,  that  the  real  Mother  Demdyke  was 
never  able  to  do  mischief  on  such  an  heroic  scale 
as  her  bioscopic  reflection  in  the  novel.  At  least, 
if  we  make  full  allowance  for  her  creator's  neces- 
sities, we  may  admit  that  he  has  given  us  a 
sufficiently  fair  picture,  if  not  of  Mother  Demdyke 
as  she  was,  at  least  of  what  she  was  supposed 
to  be. 

Of  a  different  order  of  realism  is  the  witch- 
world  described  for  us  by  Goethe.     Here,  again, 

303 


The  Book  of  Witches 

had  we  no  further  knowlege  of  witchdom,  we 
should  be  sadly  led  astray,  though  naturally  and 
inevitably.  For  Goethe,  though  he  gives  us  some 
vivid  sketches  of  witch-life,  uses  them  only  inci- 
dentally. His  witches  have  no  greater  purpose 
than  to  form  a  background  against  which 
the  figures  of  Mephistopheles  and  Faust  may  be- 
the  better  shown  up — nay,  more,  his  witches  are 
but  part  of  that  background,  phantasmagorically 
confused  with  Menelaus,  Paris,  Oberon,  Ariel, 
Titania,  and  a  hundred  other  figures  of  mythology 
or  fairy-lore.  It  is  true  that  by  moments  he  gives 
us  studies  of  the  witch  as  a  personal  entity,  as, 
for  instance,  when  Faust  and  his  mentor  visit  the 
Witch  Kitchen,  there  to  interview  not  only  a  very 
witch,  but  with  her  a  miscellaneous  collection  of 
her  familiars,  cats,  kittens,  and  the  like.  It  may 
be  noted  as  a  subtle  touch  of  realism  that  the 
witch  does  not  at  first  recognise  her  master  owing 
to  his  temporary  lack  of  a  cloven  hoof  and 
attendant  ravens,  cursing  him  roundly  before  she 
realises  the  mistake.  But  in  this  the  poet  over- 
does his  realism,  seeing  that  in  real  life  the  witch 
had  so  many  opportunities  of  meeting  Satan  in 
unexpected  forms,  as  a  tree-trunk,  a  brazen  bull, 
or  a  greyhound,  that  any  minor  modification  of 
his  anatomy  would  certainly  not  have  caused  any 
such  mystification.  Even  in  the  original,  then, 
we  have  to  make  great  allowances  for  poetical 
or  other   licence  before  we  can  admit  that  the 

304 


The  Witch   in  Fiction 

witches  of  Faust  are  at  all  true  to  life.  When 
we  come  to  the  acting  editions  of  the  play  as  per- 
formed in  England  by  ambitious  actor-managers, 
we  find  that  the  unfortunate  witch  becomes  little 
more  than  a  caricature.  On  the  Brocken  she  is 
elbowed  out  of  place  by  miscellaneous  mytho- 
logical, so  that  the  audience  gains  no  truer  idea 
of  an  ordinary  Sabbath  than  does  the  visitor  of 
London  who  only  sees  it  on  a  Bank-holiday.  In 
the  Witch-kitchen  scene  again,  not  only  is  she 
quite  lost  in  a  world  of  red  fire  and  scenic  effects, 
but  she  is  represented  as  resembling  rather  the 
pantaloon  in  a  pantomime  than  a  junior  partner 
of  the  Devil.  At  least  the  witch  has  so  much 
cause  of  gratitude  to  the  poet,  that  he  and  his 
imitators  have  given  her  a  new,  even  if  rather 
meretricious,  popularity  at  a  period  when  it  is 
badly  needed. 

Properly  to  appreciate  the  difference  between 
the  witch  of  fiction  and  her  prototype  in  real  life, 
we  must  seek  her  in  what  is,  after  all,  her  strong- 
hold, the  fairy-story.  It  would  seem,  indeed,  as 
if,  having  been  driven  to  take  refuge  in  the 
nursery,  she  has  there  caught  something  of  the 
vitality  of  its  more  familiar  occupants.  For  just 
as  we  find  that  the  real  witch  has  more  than  one 
seeming,  so  the  witch  of  fiction  may  belong  to 
any  of  many  types — if  not  to  several  of  them  at 
once.  As  already  noticed,  she  makes  a  habit  of 
exceeding  the  bounds  of  possibility;    she  is  also 

305  X 


The  Book  of  Witches 

as  frequently  as  not  a  dual  personality.  In  real 
life  the  witch  is  always  the  witch  first,  the  queen, 
or  duchess,  or  gude-wife  only  incidentally.  Were 
it  not  for  her  occult  powers  she  would  cease  to 
exist,  would  be  degraded,  indeed,  to  the  ordinary 
level  of  queen  or  beldame.  But  in  fiction,  and 
especially  in  fairy  fiction,  this  does  not  hold  good ; 
that  is  to  say,  there  are  certain  ranks  and  positions 
which  carry  with  them  almost  of  right  the  being 
considered  a  witch.  Thus  if  you  happen  to  marry 
a  king,  who  has  a  beautiful  daughter,  or  a  par- 
ticularly eligible  son,  it  is  almost  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  you  are  a  witch ;  this,  not  because 
widowed  monarchs  are  particularly  given  to 
making  bad  marriages,  but  rather,  it  would  seem, 
on  some  such  principle  as  that  by  which  the  wife 
of  the  Egyptian  Pharaoh  became  a  goddess  by 
marriage.  It  is  true  that  to  be  a  witch  in  fairy- 
land, you  need  not  have  entered  into  any  agree- 
ment with  the  Devil,  nor  possess  any  supernatural 
power  whatever.  As  in  the  already  quoted  story 
of  the  Tinder-box,  the  possession  of  any  magic 
article  sufficiently  bewitched  to  do  mischief  is  all 
that  you  require.  You  need  not  have  bewitched 
it  yourself,  in  many  cases  you  have  inherited,  in 
others  purchased  it,  in  others  had  it  thrust  upon 
you.  You  need  not,  again,  be  ugly;  in  most 
cases  you  cannot  be,  for  no  one  can  suppose  that 
a  royal  widower  would  feel  himself  called  upon 
to  mate  with  a  hag  en  secondes  noces.    Sometimes, 

306 


The  Witch  in   Fiction 

of  course,  you  may  only  assume  an  attractive 
appearance  for  the  purpose  of  catching  your 
monarch,  but  this  is  rare.  The  stepmother  witch 
in  "  Snow-white,"  for  example,  we  know  to  have 
been  beautiful  on  the  authority  of  her  magic 
mirror,  for  did  it  not  in  reply  to  her  queries  tell 
her  before  the  irruption  of  Snow-white  that  she 
was  the  fairest  woman  in  the  world?  Nor  have 
we  any  cause  to  doubt  that  the  mirror  was  truth- 
ful, seeing  that  it  sacrificed  both  expediency  and 
politeness  to  veracity  by  maintaining  later  that 
"  Snow-white  is  fairest  now,  I  ween." 

It  is  impossible  not  to  feel  a  certain  sympathy 
with  this  unfortunate  royal  lady  in  her  subsequent 
fate,  that  of  being  condemned  to  dance  herself 
to  death  in  red-hot  iron  shoes;  seeing  that  the 
sin  of  envy,  for  which  she  suffered,  was  entailed 
upon  her  by  all  the  conventions  of  stepmother- 
hood,  and  that,  had  she  failed  in  it,  the  story  could 
never  have  been  written. 

That  the  stepmother  witch  might  and  frequently 
did  possess  magical  powers  on  her  own  account 
we  may  learn  from  the  story  of  "  The  Wild 
Swans,"  as  related  by  Hans  Andersen.  In  that 
instance  the  wicked  queen,  by  merely  making  a 
pass  in  the  air,  is  able  to  turn  her  eleven  stepsons 
into  wild  swans  as  easily  as  Circe  herself  turned 
the  companions  of  Ulysses  into  swine.  Strictly 
following  earthly  precedent  again,  we  find  that 
her    spells   sometimes    fail,    as    when    she    bids 

307  X  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

her  familiars,  three  toads,  place  themselves 
upon  Eliza's  head,  forehead,  and  heart,  so  that 
she  may  become  as  stupid,  as  ugly,  and  as  evilly 
inclined  as  themselves.  In  this  they  fail  alto- 
gether, being  unable  to  make  headway  against  the 
virtuous  innocence  of  Eliza,  very  much,  as  upon 
earth,  all  evil  spells  were  rendered  impotent  when 
confronted  with  holy  words  or  the  sign  of  the 
cross.  She  does  not,  it  may  be  noted,  disdain 
such  more  commonplace  methods  of  annoyance, 
as  anointing  her  stepdaughter's  face  with  walnut- 
juice  and  driving  her  from  home.  Yet  another 
point  in  which  the  story  of  "  The  Wild  Swans  " 
shows  itself  in  accordance  with  the  traditions  of 
the  real  witch-world  is  where  the  good  princess, 
now  become  queen,  being  accused  of  consorting 
with  witches  in  a  churchyard,  is  herself  accused 
of  witchcraft  by  the  local  archbishop,  and  would 
inevitably  have  been  burnt  but  for  the  timely  inter- 
vention of  her  brothers.  It  was  fortunate  for  her 
that  she  lived  in  fairy-land  and  not  under  the  juris- 
diction of  Innocent  VIII.  or  James  L,  when  it  is 
much  to  be  feared  that  a  whole  army  of  brothers 
would  not  have  sufficed  to  save  her — as  a  matter 
of  fact  they  would  probably  have  been  among 
her  warmest  accusers.  This  the  more  so,  that  she 
was  attended  in  prison  by  three  familiars  in  the 
shape  of  mice,  who  would  certainly  have  provided 
damning  evidence  in  the  eyes  of  any  self-respect- 
ing inquisitor. 

308 


The  Witch  in   Fiction 

In  seeking  for  the  witch  in  fairy-land,  we  must 
often  look  for  her  under  some  other  name — as 
a  fairy,  for  instance,  and  especially  as  a  fairy- 
godmother.  One  of  the  most  embarrassing 
attributes  of  the  fairy-godmother  is  that  if  you 
offend  her  she  at  once  changes  into  a  witch, 
without  giving  you  any  warning  whatever.  She 
may  have  officiated  as  godmother  to  half  a  dozen 
of  your  children,  treating  them  always  as  a  real 
fairy  should.  But  should  you  once  offend  her, 
and  especially  should  you  forget  to  invite  her 
to  a  christening,  she  at  once  becomes  a  witch  of 
the  utmost  malignancy.  This  is  a  curious  per- 
version from  the  habits  of  the  real  witch,  whose 
interests  are  entirely  against  the  baptising  of 
children  under  any  circumstances.  It  may  be 
supposed  that,  having  for  the  nonce  laid  aside 
her  evil  doing,  and  adopted  the  civilised  veneer 
of  fairyism,  she  is  quick  to  take  offence  at  any 
implied  non-recognition  thereof,  very  much  as 
might  a  black  man  if  anyone  said  to  him,  "  I 
suppose  you  don't  wear  trousers  at  home  ?  ''  A 
famous  example  of  the  beneficent  fairy  godmother 
occurs,  of  course,  in  "  Cinderella  ";  a  cynic  might, 
indeed,  argue  that  her  beneficence  towards  Cin- 
derella, her  provision  of  fine  dresses,  six-horse 
coaches,  and  glass  slippers,  were  induced  rather 
by  the  desire  to  spite  the  ugly  sisters  than  out  of 
any  actual  love  of  Cinderella  herself.  Another 
common   type    of    the   double-edged    godmother 

309 


The  Book  of  Witches 

occurs  in  the  story  of  Prince  Hazel  and  Prince 
Fair.  With  characteristic  perversity,  while  pre- 
tending that  each  prince  will  have  an  equal 
chance,  she  yet  makes  everything  smooth  for  the 
one,  while  placing  irresistible  temptation  in  the 
path  of  the  other,  basing  her  action  upon  her  pre- 
conceived idea  of  their  disposition. 

The  witch-fairy  need  not  be  a  godmother.  In 
the  "  Sleeping  Beauty,"  for  instance,  her  solfe 
cause  of  irritation  is  at  not  receiving  an  invitation 
to  the  christening.  In  consequence,  as  every 
child  knows,  she  condemns  the  future  Beauty  to 
prick  her  finger  at  the  age  of  fifteen  and  thereafter 
to  fall  asleep — she  and  all  her  entourage — until 
a  casual  prince  shall  have  sufficient  curiosity  to 
make  his  way  through  the  surrounding  thorn- 
thickets.  It  may  be  noted  in  this  connection  that 
the  every-day  inhabitants  of  fairy-land  have  never 
shown  themselves  able  to  learn  from  experience. 
Scarcely  a  royal  christening  could  take  place  with- 
out some  important  witch-fairy  being  forgotten, 
always  w^ith  disastrous  results,  yet  no  steps  seem 
ever  to  have  been  taken  to  guard  against  the 
recurrence  of  such  disastrous  negligence. 

The  witch-princess  differs  from  the  witch-queen 
stepmother  in  that  she  is  usually  herself  under  a 
spell,  which,  being  removed,  usually  by  the  inter- 
vention of  some  adventurous  lover,  she  at  once 
resumes  all  the  lovable  qualities  inherent  to  beau- 
tiful   princesses.      Thus,    in    "The    TravelHng 

310 


The  Witch  in  Fiction 

Companion/'  the  princess  is  at  first  made  to 
appear  in  the  most  unamiable  light  possible, 
though  her  beauty  and  her  mantle  of  butterflies' 
wings  none  the  less  turn  the  heads  of  the  wooers 
whose  skulls  are  destined  to  adorn  her  garden — 
a  phenomenon  not  unknown  on  solid  earth. 
Nevertheless,  when  a  suitor  arrives  with  the  neces- 
sary qualifications  to  overcome  the  spell,  she  settles 
down  to  a  life  of  the  domestic  virtues,  perhaps 
on  the  principle  that  the  reformed  rake  makes 
the  best  husband.  The  witch-princess,  be  it 
noted,  is  so  far  of  earthly  origin  as  to  be  directly 
descended  from  that  unhappy  heroine,  Medea. 

I  have  hitherto  refrained  from  reference  to  what 
are  perhaps  the  most  vividly  convincing  charac- 
ters in  witch-fiction':  "  Sidonia  the  Sorceress  " 
and  "The  Amber  Witch,"  the  creations  of 
the  German  Lutheran  clergyman,  .Wilhelm 
Meinhold.  They  can,  however,  more  especially 
the  "  Amber  Witch,"  scarcely  be  regarded  as 
absolute  fiction,  seeing  that  they  provide  not 
imaginary  portraits,  but  actual  photographs  of  the 
witch  as  she  was  supposed  to  live.  So  carefully 
did  the  author  collate  his  facts,  so  exact  to  truth 
were  the  details  of  the  trial,  tribulations,  and  final 
escape  of  the  unhappy  girl  suspected  of  witch- 
craft, that  at  the  time  of  its  publication  in  1843, 
"  The  Amber  Witch  "  was  generally  accepted  as 
an  actual  record  of  a  witchcraft  trial  in  the  time 
of   the    Thirty    Years'    War.     Perhaps,    indeed, 

311 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Maria  Schweidler  deserves  a  better  fate  than  to 
be  included  as  a  witch  under  any  heading  what- 
ever, seeing  that  not  only  was  her  innocence 
finally  made  manifest,  but  that  the  accusation  was 
originally  aroused  against  her  for  no  better  cause 
than  her  own  kindness  of  heart  and  practical  bene- 
volence. It  is  true  that  many  of  the  names 
enshrined  in  the  annals  of  witchcraft  would  never 
have  been  there  if  guilt  or  malevolence  were  the 
sole  rightful  claims  to  this  form  of  immortality. 

As  might  be  expected,  the  wizard,  no  less  than 
the  witch,  has  appealed  to  the  picturesque  imagina- 
tion of  the  romancist  in  many  times  and  countries. 
What  is  more,  he  has,  if  anything,  been  taken 
more  seriously.  This  is  perhaps  due  to  the  fact 
that  his  creator  has  generally  conformed  more 
closely  to  his  original.  The  great  alchemists  of 
history  have  been  pressed  into  the  service  of  many 
writers,  much  as  have  the  Rosicrucians,  the 
Cabalists,  and  other  members  of  magico-secret 
societies.  Even  when  we  find  the  wizard, 
magician,  or  sorcerer  in  his  purely  romantic  guise, 
he  conforms  more  closely  to  his  original  than  does 
the  witch.  In  the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  for  example, 
are  many  magicians,  to  say  nothing  of  djinns,  but 
there  is  scarcely  one  among  them  who  transcends 
the  powers  of  his  real-life  prototype.  Merlin, 
again,  despite  his  ambiguous  origins,  wherever  he 
appears,  whether  in  Arthurian  legend  or  Maeter- 
linckian  variation,  is  always  recognisable  and  true 

312 


The  Witch  in  Fiction 

to  type.  Prospero,  in  the  "  Tempest/'  is  a 
magician  of  no  mean  power,  but  he  is  none  the 
less  a  man  with  human  affections  and  human  aims, 
taking  the  side  of  good  in  the  age-long  struggle 
against  evil,  as  represented  by  Caliban.  No  one 
meeting  Prospero  in  the  society  of,  let  us  say, 
Albertus  Magnus,  need  have  found  anything  to 
cavil  at  in  his  verisimilitude.  Even  when  you 
find  a  magician  in  fairy-lore,  as  in  the  already 
quoted  story  of  "  The  Travelling  Companion," 
he  is,  if  unamiable,  not  unreal,  unless,  indeed,  in 
his  preference  for  cushions  made  of  live  mice, 
eating  each  others'  tails. 

Thus  in  fiction,  as  in  fact,  we  find  the  caste 
distinction  between  the  witch  and  the  wizard 
rigidly  observed,  the  one  approached  with  some- 
thing like  reverence,  the  other  regarded  with  dis- 
like and  half -contemptuous  fear.  This  may  be 
largely  due  in  both  worlds  to  the  fact  that  there 
are  "  to  ten  thousand  witches  but  one  wizard," 
and  that  familiarity  breeds  contempt.  Neverthe- 
less, it  should  serve  but  as  another  claim  upon  our 
sympathy  for  the  much-abused  witch,  even  while 
it  exemplifies  the  truth  of  the  proverb  that  nothing 
succeeds  like  success.  The  magician,  after  having 
led  the  Devil  by  the  nose  throughout  a  long  and 
ill-spent  life,  not  only  succeeds  nine  times  out 
of  ten  in  cheating  him  in  the  end,  but  also  pre- 
serves to  a  remarkable  degree  the  sympathies  of 
mankind,   whether    as    devotee    or   novel-reader. 

3^3 


The  Book  of  Witches 

The  unfortunate  witch,  having  devoted  her 
industrious  days  to  carrying  out  faithfully  the 
terms  of  her  bargain,  is  condemned  to  the  flames 
both  in  this  world  and  the  next  amid  universal 
execration.  Truly  he  does  not  always  bear  the 
palm  who  best  merits  it. 


314 


CHAPTER  XVI 

SOME  WITCHES  OF  TO-DAY 

No  Study  of  witchcraft — however  slight— could 
be  considered  complete  did  it  ignore  its  import- 
ance in  the  world  of  to-day.  Dispossessed  though 
she  may  be,  in  a  small  intellectual  district  of  the 
Western  World,  the  witch  still  queens  it  over  the 
imagination  of  the  vast  majority  of  mankind. 
What  is  more,  as  I  have  tried  to  show  in  an  earlier 
chapter,  there  are  many  indications  that  her  re- 
conquest  of  her  lost  territories  cannot  be  long  de- 
layed. With  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
— in  which  the  cult  of  neo-materialism  reached  its 
widest  sway — the  reaction  against  the  great  con- 
spiracy may  already  have  begun.  The  Russo- 
Japanese  war,  with  its  defeat  of  an  Occidental, 
or  semi-Occidental,  Power  at  the  hands  of  the 
Orient,  may  also  be  held  to  typify  the  approaching 
victory  of  witchcraft  over  science.  It  is  true  that 
the  true  Russian — the  moujik,  as  apart  from  the 
germanised,  official  class — has  always  preserved 
his  faith  in  magic ;  true  also  that  the  Japanese  vic- 
tories were  won  by  a  free  adaptation  of  European 

315 


The  Book  of  Witches 

methods.  But  this  can  only  obscure,  without 
changing,  the  great  underlying  phenomenon — 
that  the  lethargic  East,  the  great  home  of  witch- 
craft and  witch-lore,  has  at  last  aroused  itself  from 
its  long  trance,  and,  by  whatever  methods 
chastised  the  fussy  West  that  sought,  professedly 
for  its  own  good,  to  change  its  lotus-dreams  to 
nightmares.  It  only  remains  for  China  to  rise  up 
and  chastise  the  inconstant  Japanese  for  their 
treachery  to  a  common  ideal,  to  make  the  certainty 
of  the  witch's  victory  more  certain. 

The  position  of  the  witch  is,  indeed,  un- 
assailable. Whatever  the  result  of  the  racial 
x\rmageddon  of  to-morrow,  she  can  lose 
nothing.  If  white  civilisation  stand  the  test  of 
battle,  she  is  in  no  worse  position  than  before ;  if  it 
go  down  before  the  hosts  of  Asia,  the  witch  and 
her  devotees  will  reap  the  fruits  of  victory.  It 
may  suit  the  present  Asiatic  purpose  to  drape  its 
limbs  with  tawdry  European  vestments — but  the 
patent-leather  boots  worn  by  the  Babu  cannot 
make  an  Englishman  of  him.  He  may  be  a 
"failed  B.A.  of  Allahabad  University,"  a  persist- 
ent office-seeker,  a  bomb-throwing  Revolutionist 
and  a  professed  Atheist,  but  he  is  none  the  less  a 
believer  in  a  milHon  gods  and  ten  times  as  many 
witches.  In  his  native  village  he  has  an  heredi- 
tary official  magician,  who  controls  the  weather, 
wards  off  evil  spells,  performs  incantations  and 
the  like  at  fixed  charges — and  commands  the  im- 

316 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

plicit  confidence  of  educated  and  uneducated 
alike.  What  is  more,  the  Indian  cult  of  witchcraft 
has  flourished  the  more  widely  beneath  the  con- 
temptuous protection  of  the  British  Raj.  In  the 
old  times  there  were  certain  inconveniences  at- 
tendant upon  the  witch  or  wizard-life  in  India  as 
elsewhere.  Dreaded  they  were,  as  they  are  still, 
but  there  were  times  when  an  outraged  community 
turned  under  the  pressure  of  their  malignant  spells 
and  meted  out  appropriate  punishment  full  mea- 
sure. Witch-tests  very  similar  to  those  employed 
by  Matthew  Hopkins  were  everywhere  in  use. 
Among  the  Bhils,  for  example,  and  other  allied 
tribes,  a  form  of  "  swimming  "  prevailed,  in 
many  ways  an  improvement  upon  the  fallible 
British  methods.  A  stake  being  set  up  in  a  shal- 
low tank  or  lake,  so  that  it  protrudes  above  the 
surface,  the  suspected  witch  must  lay  hold  of  it 
and  descend  to  the  bottom,  there  to  re- 
main while  an  arrow  is  shot  from  a  bow 
and  brought  back  by  a  runner  to  the 
firing-place.  If  the  suspect  can  remain  under 
water  until  then,  she  is  declared  innocent;  if  she 
rises  to  breathe,  she  is  a  confessed  witch.  This 
method  offers  so  many  opportunities  of  manipu- 
lation, either  by  the  suspect's  friends  or  enemies, 
that  it  may  well  take  precedence  even  of  the  or- 
deal by  fire,  water,  or  ploughshare  favoured  among 
us  in  feudal  days,  while  the  inventiveness  of  the 
English  witch-finder  is  put  to  open  shame.  Need- 
Si? 


The    Book  of  Witches 

less  to  say,  Indian  witchcraft  had  and  has  all  the 
material  incidentals  proper  to  a  cult.  There  are 
substances  susceptible  to  spells,  much  as  is  the 
case  with  electricity;  there  are  others,  as,  for 
example,  the  boughs  of  the  castor-oil  plant,  very 
effective  in  its  cure — so  that  to  flog  a  witch  with 
such  rods  is  the  best  possible  way  of  rendering 
her  harmless.  There  are  proper  ways  of  punish- 
ing her,  too,  as,  for  example,  to  rub  red  pepper 
into  her  eyes.  But  unfortunately  for  those  sus- 
ceptible to  spells,  the  British  Government  has 
now  stepped  in  to  protect,  not  the  persecuted  ryot, 
but  the  witch  who  persecutes  him.  It  is  a  crime  to 
destroy,  even  to  torture,  a  witch,  however  notori- 
ous ;  and  however  strongly  we  may  object  to  such 
iniquitous  laws,  it  is  advisable  to  obey  them,  or  to 
break  them  only  very  secretly  indeed.  Owing  to 
this  unfortunate  state  of  things,  the  witch  riots 
unchecked  throughout  Hindustan,  and  every- 
where increases  in  importance.  For,  if  you  are 
forbidden  to  suppress  her,  the  only  alternative  is 
to  seek  her  favour,  and  if  you  have  offended  to 
appease  her  with  gifts,  or  pay  some  rival  practi- 
tioner to  weave  yet  more  potent  counter-spells. 
Otherwise  the  odds  are  heavy  that  sooner  or  later, 
as  you  are  returning  home  through  the  jungle  one 
day,  she  will  lie  in  wait  for  you  in  the  disguise  of 
a  poisonous  snake  or  man-eating  tiger,  or,  failing 
that,  that  you  will  die  miserably  of  typhoid  fever 
or  plague. 

318 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

The  witch  of  Hindustan,  though  somewhat 
exalted  in  importance  by  the  protection  extended 
to  her  by  the  British  Government,  differs  but  httle 
from  her  sisters  in  other  parts  of  the  Orient,  in  the 
Nearer  East,  in  Further  India,  China,  even  in 
enhghtened  Japan.  Everywhere,  indeed,  where 
any  regularised  form  of  religion  exists,  you  may 
find  her  actively  protesting  against  its  decrees, 
catering  for  its  unsatisfied  devotees,  or  those  who 
agree  with  that  old  woman  who,  discovered  offer- 
ing up  prayer  to  the  Devil,  explained  that  at  her 
time  of  life  she  thought  it  well  to  be  in  with  both 
sides.  Sometimes  she  takes  the  place  of  the  Devil ; 
sometimes  she  provides  a  way  of  escape  from 
heavenly  and  infernal  powers  alike;  sometimes 
she  embodies  the  whole  of  the  supernatural.  The 
creed  of  the  African  native,  by  him  transported  to 
the  Americas,  may  be  described  as  devil-worship 
— but  more  properly  as  witchcraft  pure  and 
simple.  The  African  witch-doctor,  as  with  the 
majority  of  savage  tribes,  is  himself  a  god,  far 
more  powerful  than  the  devilkins  whose  destinies 
he  directs.  More  powerful  than  the  European 
magician  of  old  times,  he  can  command  Heaven 
as  well  as  Hell — and  whether  by  election, 
assumption,  or  descent,  he  is  the  soFe  arbiter  of 
fate,  even  though,  perhaps  out  of  deference  to  in- 
filtrated European  ideas,  he  sometimes  professes 
to  act  only  as  the  mouthpiece  of  Destiny. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  persistence  of 

3^9 


The  Book   of  Witches 

the  belief  in  witches  in  our  own  and  other  Euro- 
pean countries.  Further  examples  might  be 
quoted,  almost  ad  infinitum,  all  going  to  prove 
the  same  thing,  that  the  elementary  school  is 
powerless  against  the  inherited  tradition.  Those 
interested  may  find  a  striking  example  of  belief  in 
witchcraft  and  the  power  of  the  evil  eye  in  Somer- 
set, including  an  incantation  of  some  merit,  the 
whole  too  long  for  quotation,  in  "  Somerset  and 
Dorset  Notes  and  Queries  "  for  December,  1894. 
Or  again,  in  "  La  Mala  Vita  a  Roma,"  by  Signori 
Niceforo  and  Sighele,  a  chapter  is  devoted  to  the 
present-day  witches  of  the  Eternal  City,  showing 
conclusively  that,  among  a  host  of  fortune-tellers 
and  similar  swindlers,  the  genuine  "  strege  " 
flourish  as  of  yore,  though  they  are  perhaps  less 
easily  to  be  found  by  strangers  in  search  of  them. 
Instead,  however,  of  quoting  further  from  the  ex- 
periences of  others,  I  may  adduce  one  or  two 
instances  of  witches  with  whom  I  have  personally 
come  in  contact.  I  must  admit  that,  as  providing 
any  test  of  the  bona  fides  of  the  modern  witch, 
they  are  singularly  unconvincing.  They  may, 
however,  serve  as  some  proof,  not  only  that  the 
witch  can  still  find  many  to  do  her  reverence  in 
modern  Christian  Europe,  but  that,  as  a  profes- 
sion for  women,  that  of  the  witch  is  not  without  its 
potentialities  in  these  overcrowded  days. 

If  you  cross  over  the  Ponte  Vecchio  at  Florence 
and,  leaving  the  Via  dei  Bardi  on  your  left,  con- 

320 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

tinue  along  the  Via  Porta  Romana  for  about  two 
hundred   yards    before    turning    sharply    to    the 
right,  you  will  be  following  a  course  which  has 
been  often  trodden  by  those  in  search  of  respite 
from   witch-harrying.     If    you   wish    actually   to 
consult  the  witch  you  must  persevere  yet  further, 
through  a  maze  of  rather  mouldering  streets,  until 
you  come  to  a  very  tall  house,  painted  a  pale 
maroon    colour    and    pock-marked    with    brown 
stains  where  rain  has  eaten  into  the  plaster.    You 
may  recognise  the  house  by  the  fact  that  it  has 
two  sham  windows  frescoed  on  its  side  wall — it 
stands  at  a  corner  of  two  malodorous  lanes — and 
that  one  of  them  purports  to  be  occupied  by  a 
lady  who  is  smiling  at  you  invitingly.     Smiled,  I 
should  say,  for  even  at  the  time  of  my  last  visit, 
two  years  ago,  she  was  fading  into  the  plaster 
background,    and    by    now    she   may    have    dis- 
appeared altogether  or  have  been  replaced  by  a 
scowling  gentleman,  for  all  I  know  to  the  con- 
trary.    I  w^ould  not  swear,  for  that  matter,  that 
even  the  house  still  stands  where  it  did,  so  quick 
is  the   march   of   modern  improvement   in    New 
Italy.     But  granted  that  you  find  the  lane  and  the 
house  and  the  painted  lady,  granted  further  that 
Emilia  has  not  changed  her  address,  you  may 
be  sure  of  speaking  with  a  witch  whose   fame 
has  permeated  a  considerable   portion  of   Tus- 
cany.    You  will  have  to  climb  a  wearisome  dis- 
tance up  some  incredibly  dirty  and  unpleasantly- 

321  Y 


The  Book  of  Witches 

smelling  stairs  to  reach  her  first,  though,  and  it 
is  possible  that  even  then  you  may  have  to  wait 
until  she  has  settled  the  destiny  or  cured  the  ills 
of  some  cHent  from  a  distant  village.  But  having 
overcome  all  difficulties,  you  may  count  upon  a 
not  unamiable  reception  from  a  stout,  elderly 
woman  with  a  good-humoured  eye  and  a  plentiful 
crop  of  glossy  black  hair  turning  slightly  to  grey. 
She  will  not  be  at  all  puffed  up  by  her  powers 
or  position,  and  she  will  be  quite  ready  to  accept 
any  little  token  of  appreciative  regard  you  may 
be  inclined  to  press  upon  her;  but,  to  be  quite 
candid,  I  doubt  if  you  will  leave  her  apartment 
knowing  much  more  of  witchcraft  after  the 
modern  Italian  convention  than  when  you  entered 
it.  This  partly  from  a  certain  diffidence  on  her 
part  to  give  away  trade  secrets,  but  still  more 
because  Emilia's  Italian  is  several  shades  worse 
than  your  own,  so  that  unless  you  are  an 
amateur  in  Tuscan  also,  you  will  find  her  alto- 
gether unintelligible.  Only,  if  you  should  prove 
able  to  interchange  ideas,  you  must  by  all  means 
ask  her  about  the  Old  Religion,  how  far  it  still 
prevails  among  the  Apennines,  what  are  its  gods, 
and  what  their  powers.  If,  further,  you  ask 
her  opinion  as  to  the  magical  powers  of  certain 
Christian  saints,  and  especially  of  Saint  Anthony, 
you  will  be  amply  repaid,  supposing  you  to  be 
interested  in  such  matters,  for  all  the  trouble  you 
and  your  nose  have  been  put  to  in  discovering 
Emilia's  abiding-place. 

322 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

My  acquaintance  with  Emilia  commenced 
in  a  certain  hill-top  village  within  easy  walk- 
ing distance  of  Florence.  I  was  there 
honoured  by  some  slight  intimacy  with  a 
worthy  contadine  who  had  one  fair  daughter,  by 
name  Zita.  Having  a  lustrous  eye,  a  praiseworthy 
figure,  and  a  neat  ankle,  she  had  also  a  sufficiency 
of  admirers,  whose  fervour  was  not  the  less  that 
she  was  generally  regarded  as  likely  to  receive 
an  acceptable  marriage-portion,  as  such  things 
go  thereabouts.  Nor  was  Zita  at  all  averse 
to  admiration,  accepting  all  that  was  offered 
with  admirable  resignation.  Had  Zita  happened 
to  be  the  only  young  woman  in  the  village  desir- 
ous of  admiration  I  might  never  have  become 
acquainted  with  Emilia.  As  things  were,  Zita 
was  one  day  attacked  by  an  illness  and  took 
to  her  bed.  There  was  no  apparent  cause,  and 
dark  whispers  began  to  go  abroad  of  jealousies, 
witchcraft,  and  what  not.  Their  justice  was 
proved  within  three  days  by  the  discovery,  in 
Zita's  bed,  of  an  ear  of  grass,  two  hen's  feathers, 
and  a  twig  tied  together  by  a  strand  of  horse- 
hair. The  whole  had  been  neatly  tucked  away 
beneath  the  mattress,  where  it  might  have 
remained  undiscovered  in  a  less  cleanly  house- 
hold than  was  the  Morettis'.  Doubt  was  at  an 
end — obviously  Zita  was  bewitched,  and  the 
worst  must  be  feared  unless  the  spell  could  be 
expeditiously  removed. 

In  my  ignorance  I  supposed  that  the  local  priest 
323  Y  2 


The  Book  of  Witches 

would  be  the  proper  person  to  apply  to  in  such  a 
difficulty.     But  I  was  very  soon  convinced  of  my 
mistake.     To  marry  you,  usher  you  into  or  out  of 
the  world,  the  reverend  gentleman  may  have  his 
uses.     But  to  ward  off  the  ills  of  witchcraft  his 
ministrations  are  worse  than  useless,  seeing  that 
they  only  serve  to  irritate  the  demons  and  thus 
make  the  patient's  sufferings  more  intense.     All 
this  provided,  of  course,  that  he  be  not  himself 
a  stregone,  a  state  of  things  more  common  than 
might  be  supposed.     But  just  as  the  priest  is  the 
one    genuine    authority   on    Heaven,    Purgatory, 
and  the  simpler  issues  of   Hell,   so,  to  grapple 
with  witchcraft,  no  one  is  so  capable  as  a  witch, 
And  of  all  available  witches  none  was  so  efficient 
or,  be  it  added,  so  moderate  in  her  charges  as 
Emilia.     She  was,  in  fact,  the   family-witch  of 
the  Moretti  family,  frequently  called  in  and  as 
frequently  being  entirely  successful  in  her  treat- 
ment.    She    was,    for    that    matter,    long    since 
become    a  valued   family    friend,    and — in    fact, 
Emilia    must    be    called    in    without    delay.       I 
accompanied    Zita's    elder    brother    Luigi    when 
he  visited  Florence   for  the  purpose,   and  Vvith 
him  and  Emilia  returned,  travelling  part  of  the 
way   by   electric   tramcar,   the    conductor   being, 
as  it  chanced,  an  acquaintance  of  my  companions, 
and,   as   such,    chatting   pleasantly   with    Emilia 
concerning  her  profession,  contrasting  it  favour- 
ably with  his  own.     Exactly  what  counter-charms 

324 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

she  used  in  Zita's  treatment  I  was  not  privileged 
to  know;  at  least,  I  can  testify  that  they  were 
entirely  successful,  and  that  within  a  very  short 
time  Zita  was  herself  again,  breaking  her  usual 
quantity  of  hearts  round  and  about  the  village  well, 
and  openly  jeering  at  the  rival  beauty  to  whom 
she  attributed  her  indisposition,  for  the  ill-success 
that  had  attended  her.  If  I  cannot  claim  that 
through  Zita's  bewitching  and  its  cure  I  gained 
much  knowledge  of  Italian  witchcraft  as  pre- 
sently understood,  I  may  at  least  instance  it  as  an 
example  of  the  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  its 
existence  is  accepted  by  the  modern  Tuscan 
peasant.  He  regards  it  indeed  with  as  little,  or 
less,  perturbation  as  the  coming  of  the  motor-car. 
Just  as  the  motor  has  become  a  danger  on  every 
road,  so  the  evil  spirit  throngs  every  field.  You 
may  take  precautions  against  him  and  the 
ill-deeds  done  by  him  at  the  witch's  bidding — just 
as  you  look  carefully  round  before  crossing  a 
road  nowadays — you  may  string  bells  or  weave 
feathers  on  your  horse's  head-dress  as  preventa- 
tives, or  make  the  requisite  sign  whenever  you 
have  reason  to  believe  yourself  within  the  radius 
of  an  evil  eye;  but  accidents  will  happen — and 
it  is  always  well  to  know  the  address  of  such 
a  dependable  practitioner  as  Emilia,  in  case. 
For  that  matter,  you  may  sometimes  desire  to 
have  a  spell  cast  on  your  own  account — it  is  diffi- 
cult to  go  through  life  without  a  quarrel  or  two — 

325 


The  Book  of  Witches 

and  in  that  case  also   Emilia But   I   am 

becoming  indiscreet. 

Another  witch  with  whom  I  have  had  personal 
dealings  lives — or  did  live,  for  she  was  reported  to 
be  more  than  one  hundred  years  of  age  at  the  time 
■ — in  a  small  town,  locally  termed  a  city,  in  North 
Carolina.  I  must  frankly  admit  that  I  learned 
even  less  of  magical  knowledge  from  her  than 
from  her  Italian  colleague.  She  was  a  negress, 
and  having  heard  of  her  existence  from  the 
coloured  coachman  of  the  friend  in  whose  house 
I  was  staying,  I  determined  to  leave  np  stone 
unturned  to  make  her  acquaintance.  I  hoped  to 
glean  from  her  lips  some  particulars  of  the  extent 
to  which  Voodooism — elsewhere  referred  to  in  this 
volume — is  still  practised  by  the  American  negro 
— a  fact  of  which  I  was  repeatedly  assured  by 
Southern  friends.  I  was  signally  disappointed; 
the  old  lady  would  not,  in  fact,  condescend  so 
much  as  to  open  her  lips  to  me  at  all.  She  lived 
with  her  son,  who  held  a  position  of  some  trust 
in  connection  with  the  Coloured  Baptist  Church, 
in  one  of  the  wooden  shanties  which  make  up  the 
Coloured  town.  They  stand  at  some  little  dis- 
tance from  the  august  quarters  inhabited  by  the 
white  gentry,  and  the  approach  is  rendered  almost 
impossible  upon  a  wet  day  by  oceans  of  brick-red 
mud  of  incredible  prehensibility.  The  old  lady 
I  found  crouching  over  a  fire  in  approved  witch- 
fashion,   her    attention    entirely    devoted   to   the 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

contents  of  a  pot  set  upon  the  hob.  However  it 
might  suggest  a  magical  brew,  it  consisted  in 
actual  fact  of  broiling  chickens,  very  savoury  to 
the  smell  and  speaking  well  for  the  worldly  pro- 
sperity of  Coloured  Baptist  office-holders.  So 
concentrated  were  her  few  remaining  senses 
thereon,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  else,  that  although 
her  son  supplemented  my  own  efforts  and  those 
of  my  guide  in  endeavouring  to  attract  her  atten- 
tion, she  would  not  so  much  as  turn  her  be-hand- 
kerchiefed  head  in  my  direction.  So  concerned 
was  the  deacon — if  that  were  his  actual  rank — at 
his  mother's  neglect,  that  I  was  driven  to  console 
him  by  accepting  him  as  guide  through  the 
beauties  of  the  Coloured  cemetery  near  by.  It  is 
true  that  the  cemetery  was  not  without  its  human 
— its  pathetically  human — interest,  the  grave  of 
each  child  being  watched  over  by  the  humble 
toys  it  had  played  with  in  its  lifetime,  and  those 
of  adults  by  the  medicine-bottles,  even  down  to 
the  last,  half-emptied,  made  use  of  in  their 
illness — this  tribute  being  intended  as  mute 
testimony  to  the  care  expended  upon  them.  But 
it  could  not  console  me  for  the  lost  opportunity. 
Nevertheless  I  can  vouch  for  it  that  the  old  lady 
was  a  witch,  and  of  no  small  eminence,  for  her 
son  told  me  so  himself,  instancing  examples 
of  her  power,  and  he  was  a  very  good  Christian. 

Less     elusive,     although     in     some     respects 
scarcely  more  enlightening,  was  an  interview  I 

327 


The  Book  of  Witches 

once  had  with  a  middle-aged  witch  of  unpleasing 
exterior  in  the  kitchen  of  the  suburban  house 
tenanted  by  a  relative.  To  the  practice  of  witch- 
craft this  example  added  the  collecting  of  old 
bottles  and  kitchen  refuse  as  a  means  of  liveli- 
hood, and  she  lived,  as  the  poKce  afterwards 
informed  us,  in  a  caravan  temporarily  moored  on 
a  piece  of  waste  land  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Hammersmith  Broadway.  The  mistress  of  the 
house,  having  occasion  to  enter  the  kitchen,  there 
found  her  seated  at  the  table,  unravelling  the 
mysteries  of  Fate  to  the  cook  and  scullery-maid 
by  the  aid  of  a  very  greasy  pack  of  playing-cards. 
Whatever  her  pretensions  to  knowledge  of  the 
lower  world,  she  had  obviously  been  drinking — 
so  much  so,  indeed,  that  I  was  called  upon 
for  aid  in  ejecting  her  from  the  premises.  A 
large  woman,  of  determined  aspect  and  an  aggres- 
sive tongue,  this  might  have  proved  a  task  of  some 
difficulty  had  I  not  luckily  bethought  me  of 
adjuring  her  in  German,  before  which  she  slowly 
retreated,  cursing  volubly  in  English  the  while, 
until  she  had  reached  the  area-steps,  when  we 
were  able  to  lock  the  back  door  upon  her  and  so 
be  rid  of  her.  It  appeared  on  subsequent  inquiry 
that  she  had  obtained  sums  amounting:  in  all  to 
some  17s.  6d.  from  among  the  domestics,  the 
greater  part  being  the  price  of  informing  the 
aforesaid  scullery-maid  that  her  young  man,  then 
serving  his  country  in  India,  still  remained  faith- 

328 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

ful  to  her  memory.  This  information  proved  in 
due  course  to  be  well  founded,  the  gallant  warrior 
returning  six  months  later  filled  with  amatory- 
ardour.  It  is  true  that  the  witch  forgot  to  men- 
tion that  by  that  time  he  would  be  ousted  from 
Griselda's  heart  by — if  I  remember  aright — a 
dashing  young  milkman,  and  that  he  would  incur 
a  fine  of  circa  40s.  for  assaulting  and  battering 
him  thereafter.  Nevertheless  public  feeling 
below-stairs  remained  strongly  in  favour  of  the 
ejected  sorceress,  and  no  minor  domestic  mishap 
could  happen  for  weeks  thereafter  but  it  was  set 
down  as  directly  resulting  from  the  witch's  de- 
parting curses. 

One  other  incursion  into  the  World  of  Magic 
lingers  in  my  memory  as  having  taken  place  in 
a  seaside  town  that  shall  be  nameless.  While 
there  passing  a  holiday  with  some  friends,  I  fre- 
quently observed  large  yellow  handbills,  and  even 
posters,  setting  forth  that  a  lady,  who  from  her 
name  appeared  to  be  of  Oriental  antecedents,  was 
prepared  to  cast  horoscopes,  read  palms,  and 
arrange  all  kinds  of  personally  conducted  tours 
into  the  future  at  fees  which  could  only  be 
described  as  ridiculous.  It  so  happened  that 
among  the  members  of  the  party  was  a  young 
lady  who  was  then  in  the  throes  of  her  last  love- 
affair.  Naturally  anxious  to  learn  its  future  course, 
she,  it  appears,  consulted  the  seeress,  whom  I  will 
call,    though    it    was    not    her    name,    Madame 

329 


The  Book  of  Witches 

Fatimah.  So  remarkable  did  the  results  appear 
that  the  convert  felt  it  her  duty  to  acquaint  the 
rest  of  us  therewith.  The  fame  of  Madame  Fati- 
mah was  not  long  in  penetrating  to  my  ears,  and 
the  day  came  when  I  found  myself  waiting  upon 
the  witch's  doorstep.  She  was  lodged  in  a  back 
street  some  little  distance  from  the  centre  of  the 
town,  in  one  of  those  lodging-houses  which  make 
a  point  of  advertising  that  they  possess  a  fme  sea 
view,  as  indeed  they  may  if  you  ascend  to  the 
roof  or  extend  your  body  out  of  window  at  an 
acute  angle.  Certainly  no  less  promising  hunting- 
ground  for  the  witch-finder  could  be  imagined. 
Madame  occupied  the  first  floor,  and  delivered 
her  prognostications  amid  an  Early- Victorian 
atmosphere  of  horsehair  and  antimacassars  that 
was  not  altogether  unimpressive,  though  speaking 
of  the  past  rather  than  of  the  future.  She  was 
middle-aged,  of  comfortable  rotundity,  and 
dressed  in  a  black  silk  dress,  over  which  was 
thrown  a  Japanese  kimono  embroidered  with  wild 
geese.  Doubtless  from  the  long  residence  in  the 
Orient,  to  which  she  took  an  early  opportunity 
of  referring,  and  where  she  had  studied  her  art 
at  the  fountain-head  from  the  lips  of  a  native 
gentleman  very  well  known  in  magic  circles, 
and  very  likely  to  the  Evil  One  himself, 
judging  from  Madame  Fatimah's  account  of 
his  prowess,  but  whose  name  I  can  only  vaguely 
remember    as    sounding    something     like     Yogi 

330 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

Chandra  Dass — doubtless  owing,  I  say,  to  her 
long  absence  from  England,  for  I  understood  that 
she  was  originally  of  British  birth,  though  married 
early  in  life  to  a  Turkish  or  Indian  magician  of 
some  note,  she  had  acquired  a  habit  of  either 
leaving  out  her  aspirates  altogether  or  putting 
them  in  the  wrong  place.  She  was  as  business- 
like as  she  was  affable,  and  detailed  the  various 
methods  by  which  I  could  be  made  acquainted 
with  my  past  and  future,  at  charges  ranging  from 
2s.  6d.  to  los.,  with  a  crisp  incisiveness.  Having 
chosen  what  Madame  described  as  "  the 
crystal  "  at  5s.,  she  at  once  seized  both 
my  hands  in  hers  and  gazed  narrowly  into 
my  face,  giving  me  the  opportunity  of  myself 
reading  her  past  nearly  enough  to  know  that 
onions  had  been  included  in  the  ingredients  of 
her  lunch.  Satisfied,  I  trust,  of  my  respect- 
ability, she  produced  a  round  ball  of  glass 
or  crystal  and  placed  it  on  a  black  ebony 
stand  upon  a  table.  Then,  having  darkened  the 
room,  made  several  gestures,  which  I  took  for 
incantations,  with  her  hands,  and  muttered  certain 
mystic  formulae,  she  commanded  me  to  gaze  into 
the  crystal  and  tell  her  what  I  saw  in  its  depths. 
I  regret  to  say  that  my  willingness  to  oblige  now 
led  me  into  an  indiscretion.  Being  in  actual  fact 
unable  to  see  anything  at  all,  I  was  yet  so  anxious 
to  appear  worthy  that  I  imagined  something  I 
might  expect  to  see.     It  took  the  form  of  a  brown 


The  Book  of  Witches 

baby,  two  crossed  swords,  and  what  might  be 
either  an  elephant  lying  on  his  back  with  his  legs 
in  the  air,  or  the  church  of  Saint  John,  West- 
minster, seen  from  the  north-west,  the  details 
being  too  hazy  for  me  to  speak  with  absolute 
certainty.  Madame  Fatimah  seemed  slightly  dis- 
concerted at  first,  but  I  am  bound  to  admit  that 
she  very  soon  displayed  abundance  of  savo'ir  faire, 
to  say  nothing  of  a  sense  of  humour,  for  without 
any  further  waste  of  time  she  announced  that  I 
must  look  forward  to  a  life  of  misfortune,  that 
whether  in  business,  in  love,  or  in  pleasure  I  could 
expect  nothing  but  disaster,  and  that  I  should 
inevitably  suffer  death  by  hanging  in  my  sixty- 
seventh  year.  Let  me  only  add  that  I  paid  her 
modest  fee  with  the  greatest  willingness,  and  that 
I  have  ever  since  remained  convinced  that  the 
modern  witch  is  no  whit  behind  her  mediaeval 
predecessor  in  those  qualities  which  led  her  to  so 
high  a  place  in  the  public  estimation. 

I  have  instanced  these  few  examples  of  my 
personal  knowledge  of  witches  and  witchcraft  not 
as  throwing  any  light  either  upon  their  claims  or 
their  methods,  but  simply  as  some  proof  of  what 
I  have  adduced  earlier  in  this  volume,  that  belief 
in  witchcraft,  under  one  form  or  another,  is  as 
widely  prevalent  in  the  modern  civilised  world 
as  ever  it  was,  and  that  it  is  ever  likely  to  remain 
so.  Nor  does  the  fact  that  rogues  and  vagabonds 
not  a  few  have  availed  themselves  of  its  time- 


Some  Witches  of  To-day 

honoured  respectability  as  a  cloak  for  their  petty 
depredations  at  all  detract  from  its  claims  to 
respectful  credence.  That  great  faith  is  yet  to  be 
whose  fundamental  truths  cannot  be  turned  to  the 
advantage  of  the  charlatan,  the  swindler  and  the 
sham  devotee — the  greater  the  faith,  indeed,  so 
much  the  greater  is,  and  must  be,  the  number  of  its 
exploiters,  battening  upon  the  devotion  of  the 
faithful.  Nevertheless,  it  is  not  upon  questions 
of  credibility  or  faith  alone  that  the  world-empire 
of  the  witch  is  founded.  Demonstrably  true  or 
proven  false,  the  cult  of  witchcraft  has  existed 
from  the  beginning  and  will  continue  until  the 
end  of  history.  Worshipped  or  reviled,  praised, 
persecuted  or  condemned,  witchcraft  and  the 
witch  have  endured  and  will  endure  while  there 
remains  one  man  or  w^oman  on  the  earth  capable 
of  dreading  the  Unknown.  Rejoice  or  grieve  as 
you  will  the  witch  is  the  expression  of  one  of  the 
greatest  of  human  needs — that  of  escaping  from 
humanity  and  its  limitable  environment — of  one 
of  the  greatest  of  human  world-movements,  the 
revolt  against  the  Inevitable.  She  does  and 
must  exist,  for  the  strongest  of  all  reasons,  that 
constituted  as  it  is  humanity  could  not  exist 
without  her. 


333 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


The  principal  authorities  made  use  of  in  this  volume, 
and  not  referred  to  in  the  text,  are  given  in  the  following 
list.  The  dates  do  not  necessarily  refer  to  the  original 
year  of  publication,  but  to  the  edition  made  use  of  : — 

Adams,  W.  H.  "Witch,  Warlock  and  Magician." 
1889. 

Ainsworth,   H.     "The  Lancashire  Witches." 

Andersen,  Hans.     "Fairy  Tales." 

Augustine.     "De  Civitate  Dei." 

Beaumont.     "Treatise  on   Spirits." 

Blackstone.     "Commentaries." 

Blau,  Dr.  Ludwig.  "Das  altjudische  Zauberwesen." 
1898. 

Bodin,  J.     "De  la  Demonomanie  des  Sorciers."     1580. 

Boulton,  Rich.  "A  Compleat  History  of  Magick,  Sor- 
cery and  Witchcraft."     171 5. 

Brand,  J.  "Popular  Antiquities  of  Great  Britain." 
1905. 

Budge,   E.    A.     "Egyptian   Magic."     1899. 

Burr,   G.     "The  Witch  Persecutions."     1897. 

Casaubon,   M.-    "Of  Credulity."     1668. 

Cassel,  P.      "On  Popular  Rhymes  and  Charms."     1890. 

Davies,  T.  W.  "Magic  and  Divination  among  the 
Hebrews."     1898. 

Fairfax,    E.      "Daemonologia."      1622. 

Frazer,  J.   G.      "The  Golden  Bough."     1900. 

Gomme,   G.   L.     "Handbook  of  Folklore."     1890. 

Gould,  S.   Baring.     "Old  English  Fairy  Tales."     1895. 

Gould,  S.  Baring.     "The  Book  of  Were  Wolves."     1865. 

Grimm.     "Deutsche  Mythologie." 

334 


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Men."     1892. 
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1718. 
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Innes,   J.   W.      "Scottish  Witchcraft  Trials."     1880,   &c. 
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The  Book  of  Witches 

Pitcairn,  R.      "Criminal  Trials  in  Scotland."     1833. 

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Also  many  pamphlets,  chap-books,  &c.,  &c.,  chiefly  of 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries. 


K.    CLAY  AND   SONS,   LTD.,    BREAD   ST.    HILL,    E.G.,    AND   BUNGAY,   SUFFOLK. 


N. 


